Barratt Developments is on track to deliver its full year target of 15,000 completions, with the volume housebuilder saying that its sales rate was “strong”.
Barratt said it expected more of these completions to come in the first half of its current financial year (ending June 2015) compared to last year.
Reporting on the 19 week period from July 1 to November 9 2014, Barratt said that it continued to see high levels of customer interest and demand across the country. It noted the “more stable” market which would allow the business to deliver sustainable growth.
The company’s net private reservations per active site per week were slightly down on the equivalent period of last year, at 0.63 against 2013’s 0.71. The sales rate in the comparable period was “exceptionally high” due to the launch of the government’s Help to Buy initiative in April 2013, Barratt said.
Its private forward sales rose 11.9% to £1,261.6 million against 2013, translating to 4,845 plots.
Also reporting, Kier Group said that its private housing business remained set to deliver around 700 completions on its own land this year. New sites secured across the private housing and mixed tenure businesses since July 1 2014 included Wingerworth, near Chesterfield, and Bloxwich in the West Midlands. Earlier this year, Kier merged its housebuilding activities into one division.
