New house building: October to December 2018

• On a quarterly basis 1,331 new dwellings were started across Wales during October to December 2018. This is 7% less than during the previous quarter but 6% more than a year earlier.
• During the 12 months to the end of December 2018, a total of 5,998 new dwellings were started. This is down 2% on the 12 months to the end of December 2017.
• On a quarterly basis 1,593 new dwellings were completed across Wales during October to December 2018. This is 23% more than the previous quarter but 12% less than a year earlier.
• During the 12 months to the end of December 2018, a total of 5,819 new dwelling were completed. This is down by 15% on the 12 months to December 2017.
• The private sector continued to account for the majority of new house building activity (78% of completions in this quarter). RSLs accounted for a further 22% of completions and local authorities for just under 1%.
• There were 9 new dwellings completed by local authorities during the quarter (all by Flintshire County Council).
• 3 bedroom properties accounted for 38% of all new dwellings completed during the quarter and larger 4 or more bedroom properties for 25%.
• The number of 2 bedroom properties decreased by almost a quarter (24%) compared with the previous year. They accounted for 22% of all completions compared with 25% a year earlier.
• There was a large increase however in the number of one bedroom properties completed. These were up by 18% on October to December 2017 accounting for 16% of all completions compared with 12% the previous year.

Note

The decreases in both starts and completions will be influenced by quarterly fluctuations including the timing of starts and completions on large sites in some authorities and seasonal factors such as holidays and weather. These statistics are not seasonally adjusted.

This data is based on the reports of local authority building inspectors and the National House Building Council (NHBC). It is sometimes difficult for building control officers who record the data to identify the intended final tenure of the property (the basis for the tenure information). This may lead to an under-count of social sector new house building and an over-count for the private sector. Therefore the tenure data should be treated with caution.

We also publish separate statistics on affordable housing provision. The figures cover all additional affordable housing units, whether through new build, purchase, acquisition, leasing or conversion of existing dwellings.