The NHBC said new home registrations hit 36,343 in the third quarter, an increase of 8% over the same period a year before. The figure is the highest year-to-date and the highest since the third quarter of 2007.
Latest estimates from the Construction Products Association predict the industry will grow 23% in the next five years with private housing starts up 18% this year and 10% in 2015.
The Structural Timber Association said 22% of homes in the UK were now built in timber frame and that is expected to rise to 30% in the next few years.
Scottish housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel said its timber systems division had several new contracts and was predicting strong financial growth. Stewart Milne Timber Systems said it had booked a 40% increase in contracts in the past year.
Although the latest new home registrations reveal a 14% increase for the private sector, the NHBC said it anticipates public sector registrations will begin to grow again from the next phase of the Government Affordable Housing Programme.
“Following a the dramatic growth in 2013, we saw a period of consolidation in the first half of this year, but our latest data would suggest that the pace of growth is picking up again,” said NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton.
Stewart Milne Timber Systems group managing director Alex Goodfellow said materials supply problems and rising labour costs were causing delays in construction.
“We have noticed a real upturn in demand. Housebuilders are looking at timber frame as an alternative and once they see the benefits they are increasingly extending the number of developments being built with timber frame,” he said. Over the past 12 months the company’s housebuilding contracts have risen by 40%.
