The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin July – September 2015 is released

A report entitled “Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin July - September 2015” was published today by the Department for Social Development (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 July – September 2015 was 2,013, an increase of 22% on the same quarter in 2014. The total number of new dwelling completions recorded by Building Control for July – September 2015 was 1,351, a decline of 8% on the same quarter in 2014
• during the first three quarters of 2015/16, there were a total of 306 Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) new social housing dwelling starts and 711 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 report
• in total, 4,856 households presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive during July - September 2015, an increase of 80 (2%) from the previous quarter. The most common reason reported by those presenting as homeless was that their accommodation was not reasonable (999). This was followed by those who reported a sharing breakdown or family dispute (991)
• the number of households accepted by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as full duty applicants for the quarter July - September 2015 was 2,766, an increase of 289 (12)% from 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 (18%). Of those households accepted as full duty applicants during the quarter, 336 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 June 2015, 280 (revised figures) new National House Building Council (NHBC) registered dwellings were sold, a decrease of 16% on the same period in 2014
• the average price of NHBC-registered new dwellings for the quarter ending June 2015 was £158,400, a decrease of 6% on the previous quarter (£167,700)

Section 3 of the Quarterly Housing Bulletin includes information on the Residential Property Price Index that was released by Land and Property Services in November 2015.

• the Northern Ireland Residential Property Price Index in Quarter 3 (July – September) 2015 stands at 105, 7% higher than in Quarter 3 2014
• between Quarter 2 (April – June) and Quarter 3 (July – September) 2015, the Residential Property Price Index increased by 3%.

Notes to editors: 

1. 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
2. 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 and DSD is responsible for the allocation of funding for the programme
3. 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
4. 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)
5. 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)
6. 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’
7. View the bulletin.  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
8. The next edition of the Bulletin will be published April/May 2016
9. Further enquiries should be addressed to:
   Analytical Services Unit,
   Level 1, James house,
   Gasworks Business Park,
   Ormeau road,
   Belfast,
   BT7 2JA

   Telephone 02890 819957
   Email: asu@dsdni.go.uk

10. 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

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