Housing
Ambitious targets have been set for house building in the UK Reuters

UK house building activity is surpassing 2014 figures with an 11% lift on the period from June to August last year, reports the NHBC, the house building standards and warranties provider. A total of 40,101 new homes were registered in the UK during this period, up on the 36,149 new homes registered in the previous year – despite an August dip which saw registrations down 6% (10,362 compared to 11,037 last year).

The private sector increased by 12% during this period (30,210 in 2015 versus 27,072 last year), with the public sector increasing by 9% from last year (9,891 in 2015 v 9,077 last year). NHBC said August's dip was the first time since January that figures have fallen below last year's respective monthly totals.

NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: "Despite a slight decrease for August, overall registration levels for the rolling quarter show the same steady growth we've seen throughout 2015. However, we are now seeing registration volumes fall in the public and affordable sector after a good start to the year.

"This may be due to many housing associations holding back on developments in light of welfare reforms and the cap on rental increases. We will closely monitor this over the coming months, along with the private sector, as the house building industry strives to build more new, quality homes that the UK needs."

Recently the government's housing minister Brandon Lewis stated: "By the end of this parliament, success I think would mean that we have seen a build in total of something like a million homes."

Last year, 140,000 homes were completed while construction began on 160,000 dwellings. Some four out of five houses completed were built by private companies and the rest by housing associations, according to official figures.