New home applications continue to rise

Friday 20th November 2009

The number of people applying to build new homes has reached a record high since the start of the financial downturn.

The National House Building Council (NHBC) received 9,163 registrations in October 2009, the highest since July 2008.

And between August and October, the council saw a 27 per cent increase in applications to build new homes in Britain from the same period last year, at 24,896.

NHBC chief executive Imtiaz Faroohki said: "It is encouraging that this month’s figures yet again show steady improvement in house building, supporting what many in the industry are saying – that the worst may be over.

"However, these figures are still well below the buoyant levels we saw in late 2007 and it is still very difficult to predict when and to what extent recovery will come, especially as we enter the winter period.

"The coming months will be a testing time for the industry, and it may be some time before we can confidently say that the industry is in recovery.”

Greater London and the south-east were the regions with the greatest number of applications, with a combined total of 4,212 during August-October this year.

The statistics suggest recovery in the private sector continues, with applications up 45 per cent across Britain from 16,630 to 11,507 in the same period last year.

Public sector applications were also up, at 8,266, a rise of three per cent.

But the average number of new home sales was down eight per cent from last year, at 345 a day.

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