London house prices: Housebuilding hit its highest in eight years in 2015 – but new home registrations fell in London, says NHBC
Londoners, hold on tight: the housing crisis is getting worse.
Figures from the National House Building Council (NHBC) showed the number of new homes registered in the capital actually fell last year – despite a raft of government measures aimed at easing pressure on the housing market.
The figures, published this morning, showed 25,994 new homes were registered in 2015, down nine per cent from 28,518 in 2014. Although the NHBC did point out that it was the third highest number of registrations on record.
The situation was improved for the UK as a whole, with 156,140 new homes built in 2015, up from 146,359 in 2014. That's a seven per cent rise – and a 75 per cent rise on 2009.
Meanwhile, the number of detached homes registered rose to 42,173, the highest in a decade, while semi-detached registrations rose to 35,423, the highest in more than 20 years.
"2015 was a year for continued housing growth in the UK," said Mike Quinton, chief executive of NHBC.
"Both the public and private sectors have performed well and we have seen encouraging levels of house-building across most regions of the country.
“There is still a way to go before we are building the levels of new homes that were seen before the economic downturn, but 2015 represents consolidation on the growth seen over the last three years."
