The 17% fall was offset by strong growth in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber regions, helping registrations across the UK to record modest 1% growth to 38,099.

There were 1,372 fewer new home registrations at 6,546 than the comparable period a year ago in Greater London, mirroring a cooling in the capital’s housing market.

Across the country as a whole the private sector continued to lead housing growth, with private home registrations rising almost 7% to 28,861 during the three months compared to last year.

But public sector registrations over the same period fell 14% to 9,238, most likely due the winding down of the first phase of the government’s Affordable Housing Programme.

Registrations for July alone dropped slightly to 13,153 from 13,539 in 2013, again due to falling public registrations.

NHBC’s chief executive Mike Quinton said: “Our latest statistics continue the trend seen during the year to date, with monthly volumes remaining steady and consolidating on last year’s overall levels.

“As we have stressed in the past, this recovery has been from a historically low base, so the industry must continue to work hard to meet the demand for more new, quality homes.”