New home registrations fell 13% in Q3 compared to last year, new figures by the National House Building Council (NHBC) show.
NHBC revealed in its latest house building data that builders registered 26,231 new homes in the third quarter, down from 30,279 the previous year.
With affordability pressures continuing to weigh on demand and supply-side barriers constraining delivery, private sector registrations fell 8% to 18,359, compared to 20,054 a year earlier.
Meanwhile registrations in the rental and affordable sector fell 23% to 7,872 from 10,225 in Q3 2025.
These numbers illustrate how “the pipeline of new homes is continuing to shrink”, Daniel Pearce, chief strategy officer at NHBC said, adding that without immediate action, increasing housing supply will “remain extremely challenging”.
Pearce said: “The Government’s proposed Your First Home equity loan scheme is a significant and welcome step towards tackling one of the market’s biggest challenges – affordability.
“The Budget now needs to provide clarity on how this scheme will operate.
“Targeted support for first-time buyers could help more people achieve home ownership while supporting demand for new homes, but its effectiveness will depend on getting the design right, including the nature of developer contribution and ensuring that any price and salary caps are set to reflect local market conditions and support viability and affordability.”
Greater regulatory certainty and stability will be “critical” to instilling confidence in house builders and investors, Pearce noted, adding that a clear forward programme of regulatory change, with sufficient lead times and coordinated implementation, would give businesses “greater confidence” to invest in delivering more new homes.
Among the 12 regions across the UK, figures showed that 10 saw a decline in registrations in Q3 this year compared with 12 months ago, the largest falls being seen in the Southeast, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Following a 170% year-on-year increase in Q2 2026, London registrations returned to broadly the same level as Q3 2025, the figures revealed.
Registrations fell across all house types in Q3 compared with the same period in 2025, the NHBC said, with just 267 bungalows and 3,217 apartments being registered as builders seek to maintain viability and meet the strongest areas of buyer demand.
Ahead of the Autumn Budget this Wednesday, Pearce added: “Our new homes data underlines the scale of the challenge facing the government and the industry if it is to materially increase housing supply.
“The proposed Your First Home scheme is a welcome and important step, but there is no single solution.
“Sustainable growth will require action on both demand and supply – improving affordability for buyers while creating conditions for developers and investors to build with confidence by considering delivery costs, planning and regulatory constraints and investment barriers. The Budget is an important opportunity to make progress on both sides of the equation.”
