MILTON KEYNES: The housebuilding sector's recovery has speeded up, with applications to build new homes across the UK during the three months from December 2009 to February 2010 up 66% to 24 105, compared to registrations for the same period last year of 14 537.
"As we enter the spring building season, there is cautious optimism about the signs of improvement in the sector," said Imtiaz Farookhi, chief executive of the National House-Building Council.
The NHBC's statistics also show that recovery was remarkably evenly spread across the UK, with almost all regions reporting higher levels of registrations.
Private sector applications at 16 669 for the three months to February 2010 were up 110%, compared to the same period last year of 7931.
Public sector figures for the same three month period were 7436, 13% higher than the 6606 figure registered a year ago.
