New house building: April 2017 to March 2018

The information is based on the reports of local authority building inspectors and the National House Building Council (NHBC), a private approved inspector. It does not include information from other private approved inspectors.

Main points

• During 2017-18, the number of new dwellings started decreased by 12% compared to the previous year to 6,037 dwellings. This is the lowest annual number recorded since 2013-14.
• The number of new dwellings completed also fell during 2017-18 and was down 2% on the previous year. However the 6,663 new dwellings completed during 2017-18 were still the third highest number of completions recorded since 2008-09.
• During 2017-18, the number of new dwellings completed for the private sector decreased by 2% and social sector completions decreased by 4% compared to the previous year.
• A total of 5,465 new dwellings were completed by the private sector accounting for 82% of all completions during 2017-18.
• A total of 1,198 new social sector dwellings were completed during 2017-18. Of these, 93% (1,117 dwellings) were completed by RSLs and local authorities completed the remaining 7% (81 dwellings). These were the first local authority dwellings completed since 2013-14.
• Of the 81 local authority dwellings completed, 78 were recorded in Flintshire and the remaining 3 dwellings in the Vale of Glamorgan. Of the 78 dwellings in Flintshire, 24 are owned by Flintshire County Council and the other 54 are owned by North East Wales Homes and Property Management (a subsidiary of Flintshire County Council) and will be offered at affordable rent.
• Over a third (37%) of all new dwellings completed in Wales during 2017-18 were 3 bedroom properties.