Key Points

In April - June 2026, there were 86 Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) new social housing dwelling starts and 395 SHDP new social housing dwelling completions.
The total number of households on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) waiting list (with no existing NIHE/housing association tenancy) at 30 June 2026 was 50,891 (comprising 92,700 individuals). Of these 39,617 households (73,223 individuals) were in ‘housing stress’ and 34,091 households (64,417 individuals) had FDA (full duty applicant) status.
The number of households accepted as full duty applicants in the quarter ending 30 June 2026 was 2,422 (comprising 4,337 individuals). The most common reason for presenting as homeless reported by full duty applicants was accommodation not reasonable (669 households).
During the quarter ending March 2026, 297 new dwellings registered with the National House Building Council (NHBC) were sold, with an average price of £280,900.
In April - June 2026, the Affordable Warmth Scheme made improvements to 576 homes, while provisional spend to date for 2026-27 is just under £2.7m.

Introduction

The Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin is produced each quarter by the Analytics Division (AD) of the Department for Communities. The Bulletin contains information on Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) housing starts and completions, social housing demand, homelessness, NHBC registered new dwelling sales and prices, and the Affordable Warmth Scheme.

AD receives data for the Housing Bulletin from a number of data providers. AD carries out a number of validation checks to quality assure all data received, however, responsibility for accuracy of the data supplied lies primarily with the source.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled National Statistics (or ‘accredited official statistics’). Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. Please see: Accredited official statistics - Office for Statistics Regulation (statisticsauthority.gov.uk)

Lead Statistician: Kerry Millin

Housing Team: Lesley Curry, Katie McFadden

Section One: Supply

Supporting information can be found in the accompanying tables and appendix.

This publication reports on Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) Starts and Completions.

The number of Building Control dwelling starts and completions, by private owners and housing associations, can be viewed on the Department of Finance’s website.

Building Control Starts and Completions and Social Housing Development Programme (SHDP) Starts and Completions figures often differ from each other, but this is not due to error. The same social housing units are recorded by both data providers, the difference lies in the recording criteria. See appendix for further information.

Section Two: Social Renting Demand

This section provides information relating to the social rented sector (Northern Ireland Housing Executive & housing associations). Detailed data on Social housing waiting lists, allocations and homelessness can be found in the accompanying tables and appendix.

Waiting lists, housing stress & allocations April - June 2026

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) holds data on all housing applications and allocations made through the social housing selection scheme in the Housing Management System.
The total number of households on the waiting list (with no existing NIHE/housing association tenancy) at 31 March 2026 was 50,891, comprising 92,700 individuals.
Of these, 39,617 households (73,223 individuals) were in ‘housing stress’. This means the household has 30 or more points under the social housing selection scheme.
Furthermore, 34,091 households (64,417 individuals) on the waiting list had full duty applicant status. A full duty applicant is a household considered by the Housing Executive to be eligible, homeless (or threatened with homelessness), in priority need and unintentionally homeless, to whom the Housing Executive owes full housing duty.

The local government districts with the highest number of applicants on the Social Rented Waiting List were Belfast (14,418 households, comprising 25,260 individuals) and Derry City and Strabane (6,579 households, comprising 11,422 individuals).

Social rented sector waiting lists by LGD April - June 2026

Map based on Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) data and developed by Analytics Division, DfC. Copyright: Crown Copyright and database rights MOU209.

The number of properties allocated by the NIHE and housing associations between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 to applicants on the waiting list, who were not already social sector tenants, was 5,934. This equated to 70.6% of total allocations made in this 12-month period.
The remaining properties (2,472, 29.4%) allocated by the NIHE and housing associations were to tenants who had applied for a transfer from an existing tenancy.

Homelessness

Supporting information can be found in the accompanying tables and appendix.

In total, 3,900 households (comprising 6,318 individuals) presented as homeless to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive during April - June 2026. This is a decrease of 217 (5.3%) on the same quarter in 2025 (4,117 households).
The household types with the highest proportion of homeless presenters during April - June 2026 were single males (33.5%) and families (26.9%). The age group with the highest number of presenters for both single males and single females was the 26 to 59 age group with 1,029 and 429 presenters respectively.
The number of households accepted as full duty applicants for the quarter April - June 2026 was 2,422 (4,337 individuals), a decrease of 536 (18.1%) on the same quarter in 2025 (2,958 households).
The most common reason for presenting as homeless reported by full duty applicants was accommodation not reasonable (669 households).
Of those households accepted as full duty applicants during the quarter, 147 were discharged.

Most common reasons for being accepted as homeless

Accommodation not reasonable breakdown

Section Three: Owner Occupied Housing Demand

Supporting information can be found in the accompanying tables and appendix

Information on all all verified residential property sales and average property prices, as recorded by His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), can be found in The Northern Ireland House Price Index , produced by Land & Property Services (LPS). The LPS report is updated quarterly and contains information on the average property price and number of sales as well as index value. It also provides a measure of change of a standardised residential property sold in Northern Ireland.

New Dwelling Sales and Prices

The new dwelling sales and prices information in this section is presented by the 11 Local Government Districts (LGDs). Whilst provisional figures are provided for the latest quarter, the text will report on revised figures for January - March 2026.

During the quarter ending 31 March 2026, 297 (revised figure) new dwellings registered with the National House Building Council (NHBC) were sold. This represents a decrease of 18.4% compared with the previous quarter (364), but an increase of 12.9% compared with the same quarter in 2025 (263).
The average price stood at £280,900 for January - March 2026 (revised figure), which is an increase of 2.8% on the previous quarter (£273,200), and a small increase of 0.6% on the same quarter in 2025 (£279,200).

Average Price of New Dwellings Sold: Quarter January - March 2018 to April - June 2026

The largest number of new dwelling sales during the quarter ending March 2026 was in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon LGD (54), with an average price of £230,600.

New Dwelling Average Prices January - March 2026

New Dwelling Number of Sales January - March 2026

Maps produced by Analytics Division (DfC) using National House Building Council Prices and Sales data and OSNI mapping. This is based upon Crown Copyright Intellectual Property and is reproduced with the permission of Land and Property Services under delegated authority from the Keeper of Records of Public Records. Copyright: Crown Copyright and database rights MOU577.1

Section Four: Affordable Warmth Scheme

The Affordable Warmth Scheme is designed to help those on lower incomes, and who are living in private accommodation, with the costs of energy efficiency measures. More information on this can be found in the accompanying tables and appendix.

In April - June 2026, a total of 576 homes were improved.
Provisional spend to date for the financial year 2026-27 is approaching £2.7 million.

Notes

1. Symbols and Conventions

The following symbols are used in the tables accompanying this publication:

..: Not available

-: Not Applicable

(P): Provisional

(R): Revised

*: Statistical disclosure applied

2. Revisions Policy

Homelessness statistics contained within the publication and supplementary tables are subject to revision in future releases. This is to account for retrospective actions on the Housing Management System (HMS). These revisions are performed in accordance with T3.9 of the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

3. Changes from previous releases

In May 2024, information regarding the Affordable Warmth Scheme (AWS) was added.

In February 2024, a table was added to show estimated stock of dwellings by tenure and local government district.

In the August 2025 publication, as a result of the removal of Rule 23 points (intimidation points), there are no acceptances for intimidation. The two new reasons of “Hate Crime” and “Violence/Risk of Violence” have been introduced in Tables 2.4 and 2.6 in place of “Intimidation”.

In bulletins up to October - December 2025, Affordable Warmth Scheme (AWS) measures installed and homes improved were reported using the date on which completion documentation was received. From the January - March 2026 bulletin, measures installed and homes improved are based on the date a payment is issued for the completed measure. As a result of this methodology change, figures relating to the value of approvals issued, the number of homes improved, and the number of measures installed in the above table have been revised. While the overall level of scheme activity has not changed, the figures assigned to each quarter may differ from previous bulletins as the information is recorded at a different point in time.

In the April - June 2026 bulletin, the Social Renting Demand section was updated to include the number of individuals as well as households, on the waiting list, in housing stress and with full duty applicant status. For the first time also, it includes the number of individuals in households presenting as homeless and being accepted as homeless during the quarter. In addition, Tables 2.1a and 2.2a were introduced to provide waiting list data at the individual level, while Tables 2.5 and 2.7 were updated to include the number of individuals in households presenting as homeless and being accepted as homeless.

4. User Engagement

Quarterly Housing Bulletin:

User feedback is welcome so we would like to encourage your participation in our user engagement survey, and thank you in advance: User engagement survey.

5. Accredited Official Statistics

Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently reviewed by Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and confirmed to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Producers of accredited official statistics are legally required to ensure they maintain compliance with the Code. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed in 2012 as part of the assessment of Statistics on Housing and Benefits in Northern Ireland, with accreditation confirmed in June 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice and should be labelled National Statistics (or ‘accredited official statistics’). In February 2019, a compliance check confirmed that the designation (or accredited official statistics labelling) should continue.

Our statistical practice is regulated by OSR. They set the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Since the latest review by OSR, the following improvements have been made in order to continue to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics:

Release - accessibility enhanced by including hyperlinks to the data tables and appendix within the release. This allows users to access them directly.
Homelessness - value and insight added by providing additional breakdowns of homelessness within the data tables and the release.
Appendix - clarity increased by labelling each section in the appendix e.g. “SECTION 1 - SUPPLY”. This gives a clearer link to users between each chapter, the associated data tables and the appendix.

It is the Department for Communities’ responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with OSR promptly. National Statistics accreditation can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin