New home completions up 11% over last 12 months

NEW home completions in Northern Ireland have gone up by 11% over the last 12 months, figures show today.

But the number of new houses registered in the province in the second quarter was down 10% to 737 compared to the same period in 2015, the National House Building Council (NHBC) said today.

However, on a rolling 12 month basis, between July 2015 and June 2016 there was an 11% increase in new homes which were completed in the province, from 2,615 in 2014/15 to 2,905 over the most recent year.

At 11%, the rate of increase was almost double that in the UK as a whole.

There was also an increase of 34 in new homes registered in Northern Ireland in 2016 over the same period.

The rolling 12 month figures reflect the findings of the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) figures.

Yesterday’s survey found that a resurgence in house building in Northern Ireland had led to overall growth in the construction industry here.

A majority of those quizzed in the latest RICS and Tughans Northern Ireland Construction Market Survey reported a rise in private house construction in the last three months.

However, work on infrastructure had fallen sharply.

A number of major housing schemes are now in the works around Northern Ireland.

They include almost 400 new homes in Coleraine, a further 800 in Londonderry as part of a £100m development, while Fraser Homes hopes to build 1,000 properties off Movilla Road in Newtownards.

And 250 new homes are being built at Ballygore Road in Antrim in a £30m development. UK-wide, the NHBC said that 41,222 new homes were registered during the second quarter of this year.

Private sector homes were up 6% to 31,753, though the social housing sector fell 13% to 9,469.

The number of new home completions for the rolling 12 months from July 2015 to June 2016 was up by 6% — a smaller increase than the 11% shown in Northern Ireland.

The overall number represents a 1% increase on the same period last year, when 40,931 new homes were registered, making it the strongest quarter since 2007.

NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: “Our latest statistics show that the industry continues to consolidate on the strong growth in registrations seen over recent years.

“These registrations reflect continued industry confidence in the run-up to the EU Referendum at the end of June.

“Indeed, this period was the strongest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2007, albeit still some way off levels seen over a decade ago.”

Last year, there was a 30% boost in registered new homes in Northern Ireland, from 2,487 to 3,223.