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New home registrations jumped by more than a third in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a warranty and insurance provider.
Across the UK, 29,356 new homes were registered to be built in the first quarter of this year, which was a 36% increase on the same quarter in 2024 and 17% more than in the fourth quarter of 2024, the National House Building Council (NHBC) said.
The NHBC has a 70%-plus share of the UK warranty market.
Its figures also indicate the stock of new properties in the pipeline because homes are registered with the NHBC before being built.
Within the total, 20,653 new homes registered in the private sector in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 62% jump compared with the first quarter of 2024.
There were also 8,703 new homes registered in the rental and affordable sector in the first quarter of 2025, which was a 2% fall compared with the first quarter of 2024.
Looking at the types of homes registered in the first quarter of 2025, 9,821 were detached, marking a 63% increase compared with the same period a year earlier. Some 416 properties were bungalows, marking a 54% annual rise, 9,955 were semi-detached which was a 44% increase compared with the first quarter of 2024 and 4,562 were terraced homes, which was a 23% annual rise. Some 4,602 new registrations were for apartments, marking a 3% annual decrease.
The figures also show that 26,120 new builds were completed in the first quarter of this year, which was a 1% decrease compared with the first quarter of 2024.
Steve Wood, CEO at the NHBC, said: “Our figures for the first quarter of this year indicate growing confidence in the market with a 36% increase in developers registering their intent to build a new home compared to the same period last year.
“Although we can be distracted by global factors that continue to unsettle markets, the easing of inflation, lower mortgage rates, greater availability of lower deposit mortgages and a strong start to spring sales all point to improving prospects in UK house building.”
London was the only region or nation where new build registrations fell annually in the first quarter of 2025.
The NHBC said registrations in London were affected “by the new building safety regime for high rise buildings and lower demand from housing associations where capital budgets remain focused on existing stock”.
Here are the numbers of new build registrations across the UK in the first quarter of 2025, according to the NHBC, and the percentage increase or decrease compared with the first quarter of 2024:
North East, 1,864, 49%
North West, 2,241, 42%
Yorkshire and the Humber, 2,260, 43%
West Midlands, 2,957, 51%
East Midlands, 3,442, 102%
Eastern England, 4,035, 46%
South West, 2,670, 18%
London, 1,494, minus 38%
South East, 4,467, 30%
Scotland, 2,299, 39%
Wales, 827, 116%
Northern Ireland and Isle of Man, 800, 28%
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