New home registrations have hit their highest level since 2007, according to the latest quarterly statistics from the National House-Building Council (NHBC).

The figures for Q3 2014 reveal that new home registrations have increased 8% on the same period last year. This signifies acceleration since Q2, which saw just a 3% increase in registrations compared with 2013.

Other key points from the statistics include:

  • Overall, 36,343 new homes were registered with NHBC between July and September this year, compared to 33,573 for the same period in 2013
  • Of these, there were 28,468 private sector and 7,875 public sector registrations in 2014, compared to 24,984 private sector and 8,589 public sector registrations in 2013. This represents a 14% increase for the private sector
  • The strongest regional growth has been in Northern Ireland and Wales, which have shown 71% and 63% growth respectively in Q3 2014, compared to 16% and –12% overall in 2013
  • There has also been significant growth in Q3 in the West Midlands (51%) and Yorkshire (32%).

Mike Quinton, NHBC’s chief executive, said: “We are very encouraged to see that housebuilding is again beginning to show signs of accelerated growth across the UK. Following the dramatic growth in 2013, we saw a period of consolidation in the first half of this year, but our latest data would suggest that the pace of growth is picking up again.

“Our figures show that the sharp housing upturn we have seen over the last couple of years is a genuine broad-based recovery across the whole of the country, with pockets of strong growth in the North East, Yorkshire & Humberside and West Midlands. It is now increasingly apparent that housing growth is no longer London and South-East centric, with these regions beginning to show signs of cooling.

“However we must not lose sight of the fact that the UK still has a chronic shortage of new homes. We have seen over recent weeks that all the main political parties regard housing as an ongoing key issue, reinforcing the fact that the country urgently needs more high-quality and affordable new homes.”