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Taylor Wimpey blames snow for sales dip

Taylor Wimpey
Taylor Wimpey

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has blamed the recent cold snap for a slight slowdown in sales, despite reporting that demand from house buyers remains strong.

Ahead of its annual general meeting on Thursday, the company released a trading update that showed that its average number of sales per outlet dropped to 0.85 per week, compared to 0.93 a year previously.

But it said that it remained on track to meet its expectations for the full year, with demand holding up. It is likely to complete more new homes in the second half of the year than in previous years.

The builder’s total order book stands at around £2.16bn, compared to £2.21bn in the same period of 2017; this represents 9,050 homes, down from 9,219 homes in the same period of 2017.

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However, analysts suggested that the cold weather did not entirely explain the dip in sales.

George Salmon, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Taylor Wimpey says the weather impacted sales in the early part of the year, although we can’t help but notice fellow builder Persimmon delivered strong numbers just 24 hours before this update, and didn’t mention any such headwinds from the cold snap.”

Pete Redfern, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, said that working with councils to build homes is “as good as it’s ever been”. He added that Government measures to simplify the planning system in recent years had helped it develop more easily, and that all but “one or two” councils in the areas where Taylor Wimpey builds were open to development.

“The number of councils which are opposed to development is definitely lower than it was 10 or 12 years ago,” Mr Redfern said.

Taylor Wimpey
Taylor Wimpey

Despite this, the company said that planning rules in the capital had tightened, with higher requirements for affordable housing, meaning that “volumes in London will probably go backwards”.

Mr Redfern added: “There is a significant level of underlying demand for housing in the UK, from people who want to move and people who want to buy for the first time.

“That is coupled with relative affordability in terms of the interest rates and the low amount that people pay each month when they buy a house.”

Shares in the company fell 1.89pc to 189.2p.