Factfile

Buyer demand

Want to know what the buyer is looking for? Now you can find out. This month Homes has a new datapage, based on SmartNewHomes' New Homes Demand Index, a monthly monitor of the state of demand for new homes in England and Wales. Shown below is the average price homeseekers were willing to pay in their region in October, and it is good news, with buyers expecting to dig deeper into their pockets.

Methodology
The New Homes Demand Index is based on enquiries recorded on the SmartNewHomes.com website and records the price people are willing to pay for new homes, by region and type of property. If willingness to pay is increasing, then clearly demand for new homes is improving and this is likely to lead to higher realised prices and better deals for housebuilders. The Demand Index also tracks migration between regions. By subtracting the number of users based in a region from the number of searches in that region, one gets a net balance that reflects an overall propensity to move out of or into a region.

SmartNewHomes.com is a registered subsidiary of Smart Media Services, a marketing business working exclusively within the residential property sector. With more than 5,000 new homes from more than 1,600 developments on line, the site represents the largest database of individual new homes on the internet. SmartNewHomes.com currently attracts more than 400,000 visits a month.

Planning approvals

The North-west looks set for a housebuilding bonanza with 33 applications winning approval in October for a total of 1666 units. Thames Gateway housing association player, Estuary HA, topped the table of affordable providers, while Persimmon heads the private sector.

This data is provided by Glenigan, the development monitoring service. More than 10,000 new UK housing projects are tracked by Glenigan and this information is used by housebuilders to quickly spot new sites and to identify potential land sales as soon as they become available. For details contact Marcus Oughton, projects editor.

New-build completions

Fine weather and a healthy market kept build totals at high levels in October, with housing association completions up by almost 75%. All regions of the UK are showing an increase in completions on last month.

NHBC is the standard-setting body and leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes in the UK. Established 65 years ago, its primary purpose is to help raise the standard of new homes and to provide consumer protection for new homebuyers.

NHBC statistics are derived from NHBC-registered builders, who build approximately 85% of new homes throughout the UK. NHBC provides detailed, up-to-date bulletins on new home construction through its quarterly statistics booklets. For further information visit the website at www.nhbc.co.uk