Bovis sees profits up but UK housing market normalising

(Adds CEO quote, details, context)

By Costas Pitas

LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Bovis Homes (LSE: BVS.L - news) said on Friday its profits would rise strongly in 2014 due to higher prices and more sales but became the latest housebuilder to report a return to a more "normal" seasonal pattern in Britain's housing market.

Bovis said it was on course to build 30 percent more homes this year, rising to 3,650, with the average selling price expected to rise by 10 percent compared to 2013.

However, the company said it sales rates had fallen in the second half of the year compared to the same period last year, which benefited from the introduction of the government's mortgage guarantee scheme known as "Help to Buy."

Britain's Help to Buy scheme enables often younger buyers with good salaries but little cash in the bank to purchase a home with a smaller deposit.

Bovis Chief Executive David Ritchie told Reuters that market conditions were changing to a more familiar pattern, whereby Britons often ease off buying during the summer holiday months.

"We've seen a move to a traditional pattern of four or five years ago which is a quieter summer, a more active autumn, but not quite as active as the spring," he said.

The firm said the trend would allow it to keep increasing annual volumes, with the aim of doubling levels to between 5,000 and 6,000 homes by the end of the decade.

Pretax profit for 2014 is expected to rise almost 70 percent on a year ago to 132.79 million pounds ($210 million), according to a Reuters poll of 14 analysts.

Bovis' comments were echoed by rival Galliford Try (LSE: GFRD.L - news) on Friday, which also reported growth rates steadying to a more sustainable level in a sector that has been buoyant for many housebuilders.

That follows the monthly Nationwide survey showing price growth easing for a second month in a row on an annual basis in October.

(1 US dollar = 0.6315 British pound) (Editing by Neil Maidment)