The number of new homes registered in Scotland has increased by 15 per cent over the previous year, an industry body has reported.

The National House Building Council (NHBC) said that 3,189 new homes were registered between January and March this year, when compared to 2,771 homes during the same period in 2014.

In the UK as a whole, housebuilding has got off to its best start to the year since 2007 with most of the regions seeing strong growth.

Released today, NHBC figures show that 40,281 new homes were registered between January and March, an increase of 18 per cent on the same period last year, marking the highest total for the first three months of the year since 53,420 new registrations were recorded in early 2007.

In total, 40,281 new homes (30,691 private sector; 9,590 public sector) were registered, compared to 34,163 (24,428 private sector; 9,735 public sector) registered during Q1 last year.

This represents a year-on-year 26 per cent increase for the private sector, with the public sector marginally down by one per cent.

Figures for March show that 17,210 new houses were registered (12,699 private sector; 4,511 public sector), an increase of 32 per cent registered in the same month last year (13,068; 9,051 private sector; 4,017 public sector).

NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: “Our figures show an encouraging start to 2015 with new housing registrations up 18 per cent on the first quarter of last year. Housing growth levels remain strong across virtually every part of the UK.

“However, we have made clear that the UK is still building way below the volumes of homes that we need. NHBC looks forward to working with government to ensure that high quality new housing is a top priority.”

NHBC UK statistics for January - March 2015 show that:

During January 2015 - March 2015 the number of registrations was 40,281, an 18 per cent increase on last year (34,163). Of these:

Full regional breakdown of total new homes registered January - March 2015 by region/country:

Region

Jan - Mar 2015

Jan - Mar 2014

England - Regions

North East

1,180

1,313

North West

3,262

3,096

Yorkshire & the Humber

2,223

1,669

West Midlands

3,835

2,936

East Midlands

3,573

2,742

Eastern

4,318

2,534

South West

4,486

3,246

Greater London

5,622

7,896

South East

6,624

4,511

Totals for England

35,123

29,943

Scotland - Councils

3,189

2,771

Wales - Unitary Authorities

1,193

901

Northern Ireland - Counties

776

548

Totals for UK

40,281

34,163