Olympic Village boosts NHBC numbers

Both the private and public sectors saw substantial increases as 13,307 new homes were registered in the UK, the largest reported monthly figures since November 2007. This figure equates to a 21 per cent increase year-on-year (11,018, March 2010) and a 49% increase on February’s figure (8,917).

Registrations for new homes at the Athletes’ Village on the London Olympics site accounted for approximately 2,800 of the March registrations. But even without these, monthly registrations were still the highest they have been in eight months (10,638 in July 2010).

The number of private sector registrations during March 2011 reached 7,980 – the highest number since April 2008 (8,443) – and the number of public sector registrations increased 34% year-on-year, from 3,984 in March 2010 to 5,327.

NHBC chief executive Imtiaz Farookhi said:  “March’s figures offer encouragement to the sector during a month in which the Coalition’s Budget announced significant changes for all housebuilders.  Planning strategy, the zero carbon definition of a new home and the New Homes Bonus were all included in the Budget and the fact that new home registrations held up is a positive sign.

“While a large proportion of registrations were driven by plans at the Athletes’ Village, housing analysts have reported better than expected growth in house building during the first quarter of 2011 and our figures for March certainly reflect this positivity.  Hopefully government measures designed to incentivise the building and buying of new homes will deliver a level of stability and reassurance for the market and encourage its growth.”

Figures for rolling quarter January 2011 – March 2011 (30,012) showed a 7% rise on the same period a year ago (27,974) and was the highest rolling quarter since May to July 2010 (30,771).

NHBC statistics for the rolling quarter January-March 2011 show that:

• Private sector registrations were up 4% (to 19,092) when compared with the same period a year ago (18,412)                        
• Public sector registrations were up 14%, from 9,562 a year ago to 10,920 this quarter

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