New NHBC figures released today show a widening gap between private and public house sector registrations in the UK.
Public sector registrations decreased 20% in January 2012 compared with January 2011, and 58% in February 2012 year-on-year.
In contrast, private sector housing registrations have experienced consecutive increases this year, with a 9% rise in January followed by 27% in February, compared with the start of 2011.
NHBC reports a marginal 2% decrease in the number of homes registered across all sectors to date this year in the UK (16,343 in 2012 compared to 16,705 in 2011).
“As we near the end of Q1, our latest statistics have revealed a consistent start to the year, with both January and February reporting significant growth in the private sector but a concerning drop in social housing,” said Richard Tamayo, NHBC commercial director.
“The newly published National Planning Policy Framework and recently-announced first time buyers’ mortgage initiative are both important steps in empowering the private sector – the current engine of growth for housing numbers, as our statistics indicate – to produce the volume of homes the country urgently needs.”
