Barratt Developments has claimed a strong six months of trading, but forward orders have slumped by more than £1bn.
Total home completions for the six months were up on the previous year, rising to 8,626 from 8,067. But the total forward order book, including joint ventures was 10,511 homes at the end of the year, at a value of £2.54bn. At 31 December 2021 it stood at 14,818, with a value of £3.79bn.
In a trading update for the second half of 2022, Barratt chief executive David Thomas acknowledged the slide, stating: “The first half of the financial year has seen a marked slowdown in the UK housing market.”
He added: “Political and economic uncertainty impacted the first quarter; this was then compounded by rapid and significant changes in mortgage rates which reduced affordability, homebuyer confidence and reservation activity through the second quarter.”
The housebuilder is hoping for a rebound to bring its total for this year to 17,475. But Barratt added that “should the usual seasonal improvement not occur and trading remain at recent levels”, home completions for FY23 would be between 16,000 and 16,500.
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