Preston named ‘newest’ UK city as housebuilding boom sees 2,660 new homes

Preston's skyline Pic: Mick Gardner — Preston’s skyline Pic: Mick Gardner

Housing market research has revealed that Preston is the ‘newest’ UK city, building the highest number of new properties over the last five years.

The latest research by Unlatch, a platform for developers to digitise and accelerate their new-homes sales process, found that 2,660 new homes reached the Preston housing market during this period.

With 64,847 dwellings across the city, the housing stock boost has accounted for 4.1 per cent of the total market.

Lee Martin, Head of UK for Unlatch, said: “New-build homes play a vital role in England’s housing market, and the sector is really the primary channel by which we aim to solve the current housing crisis.

“Every incoming government has pledged to boost new-build delivery in one form or another, although it’s fair to say they rarely achieved it – we’ve certainly seen an uptick in the level of new homes reaching the market in recent years.

“These are generally focussed around our major urban hubs, but you’d certainly be forgiven for dismissing Preston as the nation’s newest city based on recent new-build delivery in relation to the size of the existing market.”

Across England, 808,770 new homes were built in the last five years, equating to 3 per cent of the total 24.7m homes, new and old, found across the housing market.

Unlatch looked at new-build delivery across the nation’s major towns and cities and found that it is, in fact, Preston that ranks as the newest.

Manchester ranks as the next newest city, with new-build delivery over the last five years forming 3.8 per cent of the total housing stock.

Newcastle and Middlesbrough also rank high, with new homes accounting for 3.4 per cent of total housing stock, with London ranking fifth at 3 per cent.

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