According to latest NHBC figures more retirement homes were registered to be built in the first six months of this year than the whole of the previous year.

Builders registered 2,337 properties specifically designed for the elderly in the first half of 2015 – outstripping the total 1,919 which were registered for the whole of 2014.

The growth in retirement homes comes as NHBC reported that more than 41,000 new homes were registered in the UK during the last three months – an increase of 12% on the same period last year.

Latest figures show that northern regions are helping to power growth in the new housing sector with the North West & Merseyside reporting a massive 74% increase in new homes registered in the rolling quarter from April to June 2015 – up from 2,243 last year to 3,911.

While London and the South East continue to drive new housing growth in terms of volume of homes registered, there was a 2% drop in new homes registered in the capital over the rolling quarter. The South East saw a drop of 16%.

The public sector is also showing encouraging signs of a revival with a 13% increase in affordable homes registered over the last three months to 10,806 in Q2 2015.

NHBC Chief Executive Mike Quinton said: “We are very encouraged to see an increase in the number of retirement homes being registered. It is widely acknowledged that the UK has a shortage of homes for the elderly, which is having a knock on effect on the rest of the housing market.

“Our figures show that 2015 is shaping up to be an encouraging year for new housing growth with new housing registrations up 12 per cent on the second quarter of last year.”

Mike Jennings, group operations director for McCarthy & Stone, said: “”In the first six months of 2015 we have registered 1,850 new retirement apartments with the NHBC and we will be investing £2bn in land and build over the next four years, which will deliver around 12,000 new retirement properties.

“However more has to be done to address the needs of last time buyers. There is a chronic undersupply of specialist retirement housing in the UK. We would like to see a national strategy for retirement housing and stronger government policies to support its provision.