The proliferation of housebuilders raising cash for land purchases and reports of hectic deal making is materialising into a surge in planning applications to build new homes. A surprise upturn in the number of new homes being planned that emerged in the second quarter of this year is continuing and every region of the UK experienced a quarter-on-quarter upturn according to the latest survey from Glenigan of “who’s planning to build where’”.

scotland

In Scotland, there were 41 applications to build more than 3,800 homes in the third quarter of 2009 alone with Barratt leading the way. Overall submissions are down a third on the 12 months to September 2008 but, like many regions of the UK, a comparison with the preceding quarter to June 2009 show a far more favourable scenario. Application numbers ballooned 37%. There has also been a substantial rise in southern England, where, in many parts, house prices have strengthened in recent months.

The South East produced the next largest batch of applications with proposals for 3,211 homes received by the region’s local authorities during the third quarter of 2009. The latest total is down a third on a year ago but up by 11% on the second quarter of 2009. In the South West, the number of units included in detailed applications in the latest quarter is double that of the total for a year ago. Overall, the total for the 12 months to September 2009 is down 22% on a year ago but ahead 18% on the preceding quarter as the industry’s top three, Barratt, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, all pushed on with submissions.

In London, Berkeley’s plans for a regeneration project in Greenwich featuring 4,300 homes lifts the annual total close to the levels experienced a year ago. Compared to the 12 months to June 2009, the latest total is also 41% up. The biggest rise in percentage terms is in Yorkshire, which has been reviving for some time. With the four busiest housebuilders all planning more homes than this time last year, the latest annual total is only down 7% on a year ago and up 49% on the preceding quarter.

In the East Midlands, the latest applications total is down by half on a year ago but a swathe of applications from big plcs such as Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey and larger private players such as Bloor and Jelson produced applications for 1,302 units in the third quarter. The annual total is up by a quarter on the preceding three months. Across in the West Midlands, the upswing is less marked. The total for the year to September 2009 is down 46% on a year ago. Apart from Persimmon, the handful of leading players are all looking to build fewer homes than last year and the annual total is ahead just 8% on the previous quarter.

In East Anglia, submissions in the year to September 2009 are down 17% on the same period a year ago but surged 37% on the preceding three months. Taylor Wimpey remains the busiest housebuilder on the planning front in East Anglia and one of the few players there looking to build more homes. Taylor Wimpey appears equally confident of the market in Wales, which appears to be bottoming out.

The company has sent in detailed applications for more units than any other housebuilder in the last 12 months and Taylor Wimpey’s running total of 820 units is three times higher than a year ago, reflecting a surge in overall submissions in the principality. Total submissions in Wales had slumped to critically low levels in the 12 months to June 2009 and the rolling total for the year to September 2009 remains down 12%. However, a rash of third quarter applications means that the number of units in the Welsh planning pipeline in the latest period is three times higher than this time three months ago. The British region experiencing the biggest year-on-year fall in numbers of new homes in planning applications is the North, where submissions are down 61% year-on-year, but a revival in planning action during the third quarter means that the latest total is also up 44% on the three months to June 2009.

the Pennines

The damage to the planning pipeline across the Pennines in the North West has been only marginally less acute and the total for the year to September 2009 is down 52% on the previous 12 months. Third quarter activity was less marked than in other large regions but the latest annual total is still 17% ahead of the second quarter of 2009. The housing slump devastated the nascent Ulster market and submissions in the year to September 2009 are down 57% on a year ago. The market in Northern Ireland has tended to lag behind Britain but even here, the latest annual total is ahead by an encouraging 16% on the second quarter of 2009, completing an encouraging period for the industry in planning terms at least.