In Scotland alone, the figure of 9,566 new home registrations in 2025 was 4% up from 9,203 homes during the previous year.

Daniel Pearce, corporate strategy director at NHBC, explains: “Our latest figures show increased home building activity, although the volume of new homes built remains below long-term averages. Whilst there are some tentative signs of conditions improving for developers to build homes, fragile consumer confidence, affordability challenges and economic uncertainty continue to impact demand.”

Private sector registrations were up 12% to 75,227, compared to 67,265 in 2024. The rental and affordable sector saw a 10% uplift in the same period, with 40,123 new homes registered in 2025 versus 36,404 in 2024.

While he welcomes these increases, Pearce stresses the importance of new home quality during any period of growth, adding: “Results of the National New Homes Survey administered by NHBC on behalf of the House Builders Federation, have tracked trends in customer satisfaction since 2004. They show that as the number of new home completions increases, the percentage of customers satisfied with the quality of their new home decreases.

“This trend must be broken as the industry prepares to deliver an increased volume of new homes. NHBC will be seeking to help ensure homes are built to the quality owners and occupiers should expect.”

Across the UK, all regions apart from London experienced year-on-year growth in registrations, with the West Midlands (+29%) and Eastern region (+24%) seeing the highest increases. London registrations were down a significant 27% as lengthy delays at the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and a drop in affordable homes delivery impacted development in the capital.

All house type registrations saw an uplift in 2025, except apartments which were down 2%, linked to regulatory challenges, scheme viability and the ongoing affordability crisis in London.

Daniel Pearce said: “We’re increasingly hearing of house builders reducing their operations in London, citing regulatory challenges and cost. Set against a decline in affordable housing delivery and a backlog of building control applications, it is unsurprising apartment registrations fell in 2025.”

While NHBC’s registration figures provide a positive outlook for house building activity, new home completions stood at 122,012 in 2025, 2% down on 2024 (124,272).

Daniel Pearce added: “A 2% drop in new home completions is marginal but a vital reminder that industry barriers must be tackled to stand any chance of meeting the government’s promise to build 1.5 million new homes.

“Accelerating planning reforms and addressing the skills shortage will help house builders deliver quality new homes, but resolving affordability challenges for homebuyers remains the key to unlocking demand and boosting house building activity.”