Fewer than one in six new build homes available to buy secured a purchaser in the second quarter of 2026.

That’s the claim from Property Inspect, which says just 16.3% of available new-build properties securing a buyer. 

At the same time, new-build stock levels continued to decline, accounting for 5.8% of all homes listed on the market across Britain.

The 16.3% figure for Q2 represents a marginal quarterly decline of -0.1%, while demand was down -1.8% compared with the same period last year.

Several cities saw demand weaken over the quarter. 

Portsmouth recorded the largest decline (-18.7%), followed by Sheffield (-13.1%), Southampton (-11.9%), and Edinburgh (-9.3%).

Southampton (-15.8%), Newport (-12.1%), Leicester (-9.0%), Portsmouth (-8.4%), and Edinburgh (-5.5%) recorded the largest annual declines in demand.

Leicester and Aberdeen saw the lowest levels of buyer demand during Q2, at 1.2% and 1.9% respectively, while Liverpool and Newport both recorded demand of 3.2%.