The highest number of public sector new home registrations for nine months was recorded during February, according to the latest NHBC statistics.

During the month, a total of 8,917 new homes were registered, up from 7,788 in January. Of those, 3,289 were in the public sector (January: 2,304) – the highest since May 2010, when 3,795 new homes were registered.

Private sector registrations rose to 5,628 from 5,484, but were lower than the same month a year ago (6,736).

“The recent budget delivered a welcome boost to the housing industry with first time buyers given incentive to buy and housebuilders given incentive to build,” said Imtiaz Farookhi, NHBC chief executive,

“The fact that the number of private sector registrations during February was down on 2010 figures suggests that many housebuilders this year were waiting to see what the budget – and indeed the key spring selling season – would bring.”

Figures for the December 2010-February 2011 rolling quarter showed no material change on a year earlier, with private sector registrations down 3% to 16,101 and public sector units registrations up 7% to 7,989.