Investors Seeking New Builds - Which Areas Have Most Stock?

If you want the best chance of snagging a new home, the place to be is South Derbyshire, which has embraced new stock more than any other area of England.

Research and analysis from development site specialist Searchland compares data on new builds completed over the past decade and what proportion of total dwellings they account for, to demonstrate where the greatest degree of new housing stock is being created.

The research shows that South Derbyshire tops the table. Across the area, properties built in the past 10 years make up 17 per cent of overall housing stock, far in excess of the English average of just six per cent. 

Hot and coldspots

Other areas with a plentiful supply of new property are Harborough in Leicestershire and Dartford in Kent (both on 14.9 per cent).

Stratford-upon-Avon, the medieval market town birthplace of William Shakespeare, is also embracing new homes, which make up 14.8 per cent of the total.

In other regions new builds are having less of an impact, which could be due to a lack of space, political initiative, and/or nimbyism from existing homeowners.

Places where new build completions make up the lowest percentage of stock in England are Brighton and Hove (1.2 per cent), Adur in West Sussex (1.4 per cent) and Kingston upon Thames in southwest London (1.5 per cent).

New build leaders by volume

Wiltshire has produced the most new build dwellings in the past decade across England. Around 22,100 new homes have been built in the county in the past 10 years, bolstering overall stock to 228,000.

In second place is North Yorkshire, at 21,300, bringing stock to 302,500; then comes Somerset which added 20,540 homes to bring the total to 267,400.

At the other end of the spectrum is the built-up City of London (350), the Sussex local authority district of Adur (390) and the seaside town of Hastings (690), all of which have seen scant new housing in the past decade.

Regional overview

The South West of England has welcomed the most new stock in the past decade, at seven per cent of the total amount. After that comes the East Midlands and the East of England (both 6.8 per cent).

Yorkshire and The Humber, and the North West, each have just five per cent.

“It takes time to build up new communities, but areas like South Derbyshire, Harborough, and Dartford are racing to prominence with a raft of new properties. Modern stock tends to be more energy efficient than older fare, which is helpful in keeping bills down. For aspiring landlords you’ll also need to have an EPC level above C to let out a property from 2028, so it’s becoming more important than ever to have a greener property” explains Searchland chief executive Mitchell Fasanya. 

“New builds tend to cost something of a premium, but if you’re a second or third buyer of a modern property you may be able to avoid that downside altogether. At the other end of the spectrum are areas like Brighton: clearly more needs to be done to build homes in these places, as without new stock there’s more of a likelihood that demand will run away from supply and make areas more expensive.

“Depending on the types of homes being built they can enhance a region with new architecture that sits neatly alongside historic infrastructure. That’s clearly the view that’s being taken in Stratford-upon-Avon, which demonstrates that new and old properties can coexist, bringing more residents and economic activity to an area.”