Barratt, Redrow up dividend payouts as UK housing recovery picks up

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) and Redrow (LSE: RDW.L - news) have become the latest housebuilders to unveil increased dividend payouts to shareholders as Britain's housing recovery gathers pace.

Barratt, Britain's largest housebuilder by volume, said on Thursday it would pay out 365 million pounds ($607 million) in dividends over the three years to its 2016 full year, based on current analyst estimates.

The company, which also reported a 162 percent jump in pretax profits for the six months to the end of December, said it would pay an interim dividend per share of 3.2 pence in May. Barratt paid its first dividend in five years in 2013.

Similarly, mid-sized housebuilder Redrow said it would pay its first interim dividend in six years of 1 pence per share. The company posted a 107 percent rise in first-half pretax profit to 47.5 million pounds.

"Underpinning this strong performance is an improved market and a business model that is delivering homes that people want to buy in places they want to live," Barratt's Chief Executive Mark Clare said.

Barratt and Redrow join peers Persimmon (Frankfurt: OHP.F - news) and Taylor Wimpey who this week also said they would either pay out cash to shareholders, or accelerate plans to do so.

Britain's housing recovery picked up pace last year after the government unveiled a scheme to free up mortgage lending for home buyers, boosting demand for their homes.

Barratt, which said it was seeing a very strong start to its second half with 0.76 net private reservations per active site per week over the last eight weeks, said it expects to post full year profit at the top end of current analyst estimates.

Analysts on average expect Barratt to report full-year pretax profits of 323-380 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters data.