Housebuilders only register half government's target of new homes
The number of new homes registered to be built in the past financial year fell 2% on the previous year, in spite of government efforts to build more houses.
Almost 155,000 new homes were registered to be built in the 12 months to the end of March, data from the NHBC showed on Friday, down 2% on the record 157,805 registrations seen the previous financial year, with six out of the 12 UK regions failing to grow numbers.
The government has a target of 300,000 new homes a year.
The new figures revealed a slower start to 2018, with 36,637 new homes registered in the first three months of the year, compared to 42,405 in the same period last year, a decrease of 14%.
This fall in registrations in the first three months of 2018 can in part be attributed to the exceptionally bad weather during the start of the year, which severely affected progress on building sites across the country, the NHBC said.
Anecdotal reports from some house builders said up to 30 days were lost on site in the first quarter of the year as a direct result of the weather conditions.
"Other contributory factors include the well-documented shortages in skills across the house-building industry, caution around Brexit and short-term market fluctuations."