Vistry’s private forward sales have slumped by £300m, but partnerships with housing associations have buoyed the business.
In a trading update for the full year, ahead of its results due in March, the housebuilder said total forward sales had risen to £4.6bn, from the previous year’s figure of £2.7bn.
However, £3.6bn of that was from its enlarged partnerships business.
“We are seeing a sustained level of demand across partnerships from housing associations, local authorities and the private rented sector,” Vistry said. “The partnerships business is less sensitive to levels of open-market demand than housebuilding.”
Housebuilding forward sales totals shrank to £1bn, down from £1.3bn at the end of 2021. Vistry acknowledged that there had been a “significant step-down in private sales rates in Q4 22”.
Chief executive Greg Fitzgerald said: “It is too early in the current year to predict the outturn for private sales, however I remain cautiously optimistic that buyer sentiment will improve over the coming months.”
Vistry said full-year adjusted profit before tax would increase by around 21% to £418m, in line with its expectations.
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