New home registrations fall 13% as fewer homes enter the building pipeline
The NHBC registered 26,231 new homes across the UK between July and September, with the biggest drop in homes for rent and affordable housing.
Fewer new homes are being lined up for construction across the UK, according to figures from the National House Building Council (NHBC), which said registrations in the third quarter of the year were 13% lower than a year earlier.
The NHBC, which provides warranties and insurance for most new-build homes in the UK, registered 26,231 homes between July and September. In the same months of 2025 it registered 30,279.
Builders register homes with the NHBC before work starts, so the figures give an early picture of how many new properties are on the way.
Rented and affordable homes fall furthest
Homes built for private sale fell by 8%, from 20,054 to 18,359. The sharper drop was in homes for the rental and affordable sector, where registrations were down 23%, from 10,225 to 7,872.
Registrations fell in 10 of the 12 UK regions and nations the NHBC tracks. The South East of England and Northern Ireland both saw falls of 32%, and Wales was down 24%. Two regions bucked the trend: Yorkshire and the Humber rose by 27% and the West Midlands by 10%.
London registrations were 1,223, broadly level with a year earlier. That compares with more than 5,000 in the same quarter of 2019. Fewer bungalows and apartments were registered too, with 267 bungalows and 3,217 flats in the quarter.
What it means for buyers
The NHBC said demand for new homes remained fragile and that stretched affordability was holding buyers back, while builders also faced costs and delays from planning and regulation. It said the pipeline of new homes was continuing to shrink.
The council welcomed the government's Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers in England. The government announced in September that the scheme will be confirmed in the Budget, and has said it is designed to support 2.5% deposits on new-build homes, backed by equity loans worth 20% of the price.
The government has also said the scheme will have a household income cap and local property price caps, with the detail to be set out by the chancellor on Wednesday 28 October. The NHBC said those caps would need to reflect local markets for the scheme to work.
The Treasury has already confirmed that the Budget will include more than £1bn of extra funding for social and affordable homes in England, taking the government's 10-year programme past £40bn. The government's target is 1.5 million new homes in England during this Parliament.
