Yahoo Finance Barratt builds highest number of homes for a decade
Barratt Developments, the country’s biggest housebuilder, has constructed the highest number of homes in a decade after shaking off fears about the state of the UK economy.
The company said it will make a record profit of £835m this year as a result of building 17,579 homes during the 12 month period, but also because the average selling price of its homes rose 5pc to £289,000.
Conditions in central London proved better than expected in the last couple of months, the housebuilder said, putting to rest some fears that the housing market in the capital was slowing. It sold 190 homes at an average price of just under £1.2m in London during the year.
Last year Barratt was forced to offload a tranche of homes in London which it could not sell to individual buyers.
But it has benefited from good availability of mortgages in recent months, as well as Government schemes such as Help to Buy, which enable first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder.
Shares in the company were up 1.45pc on Wednesday morning to 490p, reversing some of the rapid decline seen in recent weeks. The stock has lost 14pc of its value in the last month and 25pc in the year to date, making it one of the worst performing in the sector.
Anthony Codling, analyst at Jefferies, said: “There may be uncertainty in the macroeconomy, but it appears that an English person's home is still their castle and as worries over Brexit increase, it seems that faith in bricks and mortar rises even further.”
David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt, said the company is still on track to hit its target of building 20,000 homes a year in the next few years.
“We’ve been investing in land, and over the last five years we’ve spent around £5bn in terms of land, which has given us that pipeline,” he explained.
He added that the company had had “a very strong finish to the year”.
The company repositioned itself in 2016 to bring down costs and simplify construction, bringing in new housing ranges which have also boosted its prices.
