Housebuilding giant Barratt Redrow has reported a 12% fall in home completions as affordability pressures continue to hit demand from private buyers.<\/p>\n
The group completed 3,223 homes in the 17 weeks to October 25, down from 3,665 during the same period last year, a decline of 442 properties.<\/p>\n
Its underlying private reservation rate fell from 0.57 to 0.53 homes per sales outlet per week, although stronger demand from the private rental sector helped lift the overall reservation rate to 0.59, compared with 0.57 a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The company, which has significant operations across the East Midlands, said challenging market conditions continued to affect potential homebuyers.<\/p>\n
Dean Banks, CEO of Barratt Redrow, said: \u201cOur trading performance in the first 17 weeks of the financial year has been resilient against a backdrop of challenging market conditions, with continued pressure on affordability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the underlying private reservation rate has been softer, we have seen stronger demand from the private rental sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group generated an average of 243 private reservations a week, including joint ventures, up from 228 last year.<\/p>\n
It operated from an average of 406 sales outlets, compared with 402 during the corresponding period.<\/p>\n
Despite the drop in completions, Barratt Redrow’s forward order book increased to \u00a33.32bn at October 25, compared with \u00a33.28bn a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The order book comprises 11,086 homes, up from 10,669.<\/p>\n
However, the proportion of private home completions already forward sold for the current financial year has fallen to 56%, compared with 60% at the same point last year.<\/p>\n
Barratt Redrow said its full-year guidance remained unchanged, although it warned that affordability continued to constrain the market.<\/p>\n
The company welcomed the government’s Your First Home scheme but said it was too early to determine whether it would stimulate first-time buyer demand during the current financial year.<\/p>\n
Banks, who has spent the past two months reviewing the business since taking over as CEO, said: \u201cOver the past two months, I have been working closely with colleagues, customers and suppliers to understand our strengths and our opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is much to build on, and I look forward to sharing more in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe welcome the Government\u2019s \u2018Your First Home\u2019 scheme and its support for first-time buyers. Alongside planning reform, the scheme has the potential, over time, to support increased housing delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group said it would continue focusing on cost savings, controlling work in progress and maintaining a disciplined approach to land investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barratt Redrow reports weaker private demand despite growing rental sector interest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":2060784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120821],"coauthors":[95],"class_list":["post-2116919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","tag-featured-story","tag-leicestershire"],"yoast_head":"\n