New House Building, April to June 2011 and July to September 2011

This Statistical Release presents information on the number of new dwellings started and completed in Wales for the period April to June 2011 and July to September 2011.

The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 15 June 2011. The information on new house building is based on the reports of local authority building inspectors and the National House Building Council (NHBC), which is a private approved inspector. It does not include information from other private approved inspectors.

The key points from the latest release are:

• In general, since 2008-09 the number of starts in Wales has gradually increased, though they still only account for around 60 per cent of the levels seen prior to the downturn. Unlike starts, the number of completions is still falling, though with starts increasing this may shortly result in the completion levels rising.
• Annual trends showed a small increase in the number of new dwellings started during 2010-11 compared with the previous two years. However, this trend has not continued into 2011-12 with numbers for the first two quarters below those of the same quarters in 2010-11.
• The low level of starts over recent years has resulted in a significant decrease in completions. Numbers remained low for the first half of 2011-12, with the July to September 2011 quarter seeing the lowest number of completions ever recorded during a quarter (quarterly data was first recorded in January to March 1974).

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 5055
E-mail: stats.housing@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

March 2012 (provisional - to be confirmed on 'Due out Soon' page)