North of England and North Wales mid-year report
Six months to July 2021
By Mike Tottle, LABC Warranty Deputy Manager
The first half of 2021 has been exceptionally busy with the region trying to catch up on lost ground through 2020. Although LABC Warranty remained busy through the first 12 months of the pandemic, this year has seen business notch up even higher, culminating in our highest number of units registered in any single quarter since the business was founded back in 2007.
New development sites tend to be concentrated around the major cities. On the whole, the North East is the least active of the northern areas but the region is very strong for social housing, with four out of every five homes we insure designed for social rent or shared ownership.
Elsewhere, it is the registered housing providers - whether they are housing associations or local-authority led organisations - that are building the lion's share of new homes across the region. In 2019, 43% of our registered units were social housing - this year that rate has risen to 54%.
With generally lower sales prices and a larger overall proportion of social homes in new developments generally than in our other sales regions, the number of units we register in the north of England and north Wales tends to be higher.
