New house building: October to December 2025
Information on new dwellings started (where building work has commenced) and new dwellings completed (where building work has finished and the dwelling is ready for occupation), for October to December 2025.
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Introduction
The information is based on the reports of local authority building inspectors and the National House Building Council (NHBC). This report does not include information from other PAIs, likely resulting in an undercount in the total number of new dwellings started and completed (see notes). The information in this report covers quarter 3 of the 2025 to 2026 financial year (October to December 2025).
Main points
Figure 1: number of new dwelling starts and completions, quarter 3 2016 to 2017 to quarter 3 2025 to 2026
Description of figure 1: a line chart highlighting a general decline in new house building activity between quarters 3 of 2016 to 2017 and 2025 to 2026. Whilst the number of new dwelling starts has continued to decline in the most recent year, the number of new dwelling completions has risen.
Source: local authority building inspectors and NHBC data
[Note 1] quarterly data was not collected for 2020 to 2021 or 2021 to 2022 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
[Note 2] estimated figures have been included for Gwynedd for Quarter 3 2025 to 2026.
- Between October and December 2025, 765 new dwellings were started, 1% more than the same quarter of 2024 (760).
- Between October and December 2025, 1,811 new dwellings were completed, 42% more than the same quarter of 2024 (1,275). This is the highest figure recorded since Quarter 3 2017 to 2018.
- This increase is largely driven by the completion of a large development of flats in Cardiff during this period.
- Half of all new dwelling completions contained three or more bedrooms.
- Most new dwelling completions were accounted for by the private sector (85%), with a smaller proportion accounted for by local authorities and RSLs (15%) (tenure information should be treated with caution – please see Notes for details).
Notes
- Due to rounding, some figures may not add up to 100%.
- This data is based on the reports of local authority building inspectors and the NHBC a private approved inspector. It does not include information from other private approved inspectors, likely resulting in an undercount in the total number of new dwellings started and completed. It is sometimes difficult for building control officers and NHBC to identify the intended final tenure of the property (the basis for the tenure information). This may lead to an under-count for the social sector and an over-count for the private sector. Within the social sector it may also lead to an under-count of local authority new house building and an overcount of RSL house building. Therefore, the tenure data should be treated with caution.
- Both starts and completions will be influenced by quarterly fluctuations, including the timing of starts and completions on large sites in some authorities and seasonal factors such as holidays and weather. These statistics are not seasonally adjusted.
- We also publish separate statistics on affordable housing provision. The figures cover all additional affordable housing units, whether through new build, purchase, acquisition, leasing or conversion of existing dwellings.
- The statistical article Feasibility of using administrative data sources to measure new housing supply is due to be published 14 May 2026.
Main points and StatsWales data are published quarterly and a report is published annually. The information published on StatsWales includes local authority level data as well as the number of new dwellings completed by dwelling type and number of bedrooms.
