The number of new homes being built is at its highest in 10 years, although the overall level of housing supply still remains a huge problem.
According to data from the National House Building Council, new home registrations for the first quarter rose 17% over the past year to 42,470 – the highest since 2007.
Neil Jefferson, NHBC managing director, said: “These figures, with growth across the entire country, are clearly encouraging for the sector, at a time when there is considerable demand for new, high-quality homes.
“This growth in registrations, in both the private and affordable sector, is welcome news and will result in more newly-built homes across the UK over the coming months.”
The NHBC is a warranty and insurance provider that covers around 80% of the UK building market.
Building companies have to register a home with the NHBC before they start work and the data provides an indicator of future completions.
A total of 157,898 new homes were registered in the past year compared to 151,599 in 2015/16.
The number of new homes built in the past year has increased by 5% to 145,282.
For the first time in seven years all 12 regions across the UK experienced growth in registrations, when compared to the same period 12 months ago. The North East (+39%), London (+38%) and Eastern (+31%) were among the regions with the most notable growth.
However, separate figures from IHS Markit revealed that in March there was a slowdown in construction sector growth, led by a weaker rise in residential building activity.
The Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 52.5 in February, down from 52.2 in March.
This signalled the joint-slowest upturn in house building since the current period of expansion began in September last year.
Tim Moore, senior economist at IHS Markit, said: “UK construction firms experienced a growth slowdown in March, with the loss of momentum centred on housebuilding.
“A weaker trend for residential work has been reported throughout 2017 so far, which provides an indication that the cooling UK housing market has started to act as a drag on the construction sector.”
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