According to the National House Building Council (NHBC), last year 104,232 new homes were registered.

This was down 1% from 2023 and the fewest new homes registered in a year in the UK since 2012 when 104,825 were registered.

Recent years have been more fruitful in the UK, with the highest number of new homes - 188,088 - registered in 2022.

Private sector registrations were up 11% to 68,987, compared to 62,291 in 2023. In the rental and affordable sector, the cost of remediating existing housing stock constrained development budgets, with registrations down 18% in 2024 to 35,245.

Detached and semi-detached homes were the most popular types of property registered in 2024 with 34,706 and 34,778 respectively. These numbers were up 16% and 11% from 2023.

In contrast, the number of apartments, terraced houses and bungalows all fell.

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On a regional basis, increases in home registrations were seen in several regions such as Scotland, the North West and Merseyside, South West and West Midlands. In contrast, London registrations fell sharply by 48% from 2023 levels.

Last year also saw a fall in the number of new homes completed. In 2024, 124,144 new homes were completed which was 7% lower than the 133,611 completed in 2023.

This is the lowest year for new home completions (not including 2020) since 2014, when 120,102 homes were completed.

Of the 124,144 new homes completed in 2024, 45,824 were in the rental and affordable sector, 2% down on 2023 (46,542) and the second highest figure ever recorded by NHBC.

“While house building activity has remained broadly level with 2023, it is positive to see increased activity in the private sector,” said Steve Wood, CEO at NHBC. “Recent announcements from the Chancellor on infrastructure and planning reform are welcome and with easing inflation, there are some encouraging signs for better house building growth conditions in 2025.”