The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin April – June 2015 is released
Date published:
A report entitled “Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin April - June 2015” was published today by DSD.
The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin is produced each quarter by the Analytical Services Unit of the Department for Social Development. This Bulletin contains statistics on starts and completions, homelessness, the Residential Property Price Index and new National House Building Council (NHBC) registered dwellings sales and prices.
Key facts include:
- The total number of new dwelling starts in Northern Ireland recorded by Building Control for April – June 2015 was 1,828, 10% more than the same quarter in 2014. The total number of new dwelling completions recorded by Building Control for April – June 2015 was 1,295, 11% less than the same quarter in 2014
- During 2014/15, there were a total of 2,013 Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) new social housing dwelling starts and 1,658 SHDP new social housing dwelling completions. The SHDP figures are sourced from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and not Building Control. More detail on the definitions of starts and completions used by the two organisations is available in Appendix 1 of the Bulletin
- In total, 4,776 households presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive during April - June 2015. This is a decrease of 264 (5%) from the previous quarter. The most common reason reported by those presenting as homeless (976) was that their accommodation was not reasonable. This was followed by those who reported a sharing breakdown or family dispute (948
- The number of households accepted by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as full duty applicants for the quarter April - June 2015 was 2,477, a decrease of 13% compared to the previous quarter. The most common reasons reported by full duty applicants for their current situation was that their accommodation was not reasonable (31%) or they were experiencing a sharing breakdown or family dispute (19%). Of those households accepted as full duty applicants during the quarter 223 were discharged. A full duty applicant is an applicant considered by the Housing Executive to be eligible, homeless (threatened with homelessness), in priority need and unintentionally homeless, to whom the Housing Executive owes full housing duty
- During the quarter ending March 2015, 221 (revised figures) new National House Building Council (NHBC) registered dwellings were sold, a decrease of 17% on the same period in 2014
- The average price of NHBC-registered new dwellings for the quarter ending March 2015 was £167,700 which is an increase of 12% on the previous quarter (£149,900)
Section 3 of the Quarterly Housing Bulletin includes information on the Residential Property Price Index that was released by Land and Property Services in August 2015 - The Residential Property Price Index in Quarter 2 (April – June) 2015 stands at 101, 6% higher than in Quarter 2 2014
- Between Quarter 1 (January – March) and Quarter 2 (April – June) 2015 residential property prices increased by 3%
Notes to editors:
- The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin is produced each quarter by the Analytical Services Unit of the Department for Social Development. It contains information on starts and completions, homelessness, the Residential Property Price Index and new house sales and prices. Provisional and revised figures are indicated by (P) and (R) respectively
- Building Control New Dwelling Starts and Completions data (table 1.1 and 1.2) are sourced from Building Control offices linked to the local councils via Land and Property Services (LPS). The starts and completions data for the social sector in tables 1.3 and 1.4 continue to be sourced from the NIHE which manages the Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP). The required number of housing starts for the SHDP is set out in the Programme for Government targets (http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/pfg) and DSD is responsible for the allocation of funding for the programme. DSD is content that the figures provided by the NIHE accurately represent the number of social sector New Dwelling Starts and Completions for the SHDP
- Statistics on homelessness are sourced from the NIHE. Where the Housing Executive concludes that an applicant is eligible, homeless (threatened with homelessness), in priority need and unintentionally homeless it owes them full housing duty. An applicant to whom full housing duty is owed is referred to as a “Full Duty Applicant” – FDA. In this case the Executive shall ensure that accommodation becomes available for their occupation. The Housing Executive can discharge its housing duty in one of three ways: by re-housing of the applicant in the social or private sector, by offering the applicant three reasonable offers of accommodation which are all refused by the applicant or if the applicant re-houses him/herself and is no longer interested
- The Residential Property Price Index designed by Land and Property Services provides a measure of change in the price of a standardised residential property sold in Northern Ireland. The index uses information on all verified residential property sales as recorded by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
- Data for new dwelling sales and prices are derived from transactions for new private sector and Housing Associations dwellings notified by solicitors to the National House Building Council (NHBC). Refer to the following link for more information: http://www.nhbc.co.uk
- For the purposes of this bulletin, the terms ‘house’ and ‘dwelling’ are interchangeable and can be defined as ‘a self-contained unit of accommodation, having all amenities available to each household (own kitchen, bathroom, toilet) regardless of shared entrance.’ A ‘house’ or ‘dwelling’ will, therefore, comprise ‘either one self-contained household space or a number of non self-contained household spaces’
- The Housing bulletin is available on our website under the Statistics and Research topic. Hard copies are available from the Analytical Services Unit, Department for Social Development, Level Four, James House, 2 Cromac Avenue, Gasworks Business Park, Ormeau Road, Belfast, BT7 2JA; Telephone - (028) 9081 9115; email asu@dsdni.gov.uk
- The next edition of the Bulletin will be published January/February 2016
- Further enquiries should be addressed to:
Martin Devlin or Suzanna Deehan,
Analytical Services Unit, Level 4, James house, Gasworks Business Park,
Ormeau road, Belfast, BT7 2JA
email: Martin.Devlin@dsdni.gov.uk
Tel – 028 9081 9960
email: Suzanna.Deehan@dsdni.gov.uk
Tel – 028 9081 9115 - All media queries should be directed to the Department for Social Development Press Office on 028 9082 9496 or email press.office@dsdni.gov.uk. Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned