Boost For New Build Houses

New-build house registrations have gone up, compared to this time last year.

Scottish Builders have applied to build almost 3, 500 houses in the last three months, over a thousand more than the same period in 2014. It's good news for the affordable housing sector, which has seen an 8% boost.

Fife council's own affordable housing pledge of building 2700 new affordable homes by 2017 is on track.

From March - May 2015, registrations increased by 15% compared to the same period last year (43,987 in 2015; 38,247 in 2014). The private sector increased by 17% during this period, with the public and affordable sector also up by 9%.

NHBC Chief Executive Mike Quinton said: "So far in 2015 we have seen new home registrations remain consistently ahead of 2014 levels, which is clearly encouraging news for the industry.

"There have also been signs that the public and affordable sector is continuing to improve while the uncertainty predicted by some around the period of the General Election failed to materialise, with steady growth a constant feature throughout the year to date."