Housing Starts in the United Kingdom decreased to 33960 units in the first quarter of 2026 from 37230 units in the fourth quarter of 2025. Housing Starts in the United Kingdom averaged 38153.52 units from 1978 until 2026, reaching an all time high of 69520.00 units in the second quarter of 1978 and a record low of 16760.00 units in the second quarter of 2020. source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, UK

Housing Starts in the United Kingdom is expected to be 29999.00 units by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the United Kingdom Housing Starts is projected to trend around 40073.00 units in 2027 and 41074.00 units in 2028, according to our econometric models.



Related Last Previous Unit Reference
Average House Prices 298806.00 299251.00 GBP May 2026
Construction Orders YoY -11.90 28.10 percent Mar 2026
Construction Output YoY -1.00 -0.30 percent Apr 2026
Mortgage Lending 2889.00 4439.00 GBP Million May 2026
Home Ownership Rate 64.50 64.70 percent Dec 2023
Halifax House Price Index MoM -0.10 -0.10 percent May 2026
Halifax House Price Index YoY 0.50 0.40 percent May 2026
Housing Index 515.30 516.00 points May 2026
Housing Starts 33960.00 37230.00 units Mar 2026
Mortgage Approvals 56.21 66.03 Thousand May 2026
BBA Mortgage Rate 6.60 6.60 percent May 2026
Nationwide Housing Prices 554.60 556.30 points May 2026
Nationwide Housing Prices MoM -0.60 0.40 percent May 2026
Nationwide Housing Prices YoY 1.70 3.00 percent May 2026
Price to Rent Ratio 110.71 111.09 Dec 2025
Private Rental Prices YoY 3.30 3.50 percent May 2026
Residential Property Prices 0.88 2.27 Percent Mar 2026
RICS House Price Balance -35.00 -35.00 percent May 2026


United Kingdom Housing Starts
In the UK, a house or a flat is counted as started on the date work begins on the laying of the foundation. Thus when foundation work commences on a pair of semi-detached houses two houses are started, and when work begins on a block of flats all the dwellings which that block will contain are started. The starts of houses in building schemes are usually phased over a period of weeks or even, in very large schemes, months.
Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
33960.00 37230.00 69520.00 16760.00 1978 - 2026 units Quarterly
Volume, SA