London Square has posted a pretax loss in its annual results, driven by bulk sale cancellations of £100m of homes.
The residential developer reported a pretax loss of £6.2m, against profit of £8.6m in the previous year.
London Square completed just 253 homes in the past 12 months, down by 48% from 490 in 2018.
Chief executive Adam Lawrence said market uncertainty had driven three major sales to fall through. However, two of these have since completed.
Lawrence said: “Market-induced headwinds, coupled with delays from a complicated planning process, despite a desire by the government to increase housing supply in the region, has resulted in a depressed market.
“Looking beyond some near-term volatility and having established a substantial base from which to grow, we aim to deliver our pipeline and exploit opportunities within the land market.”
The developer is turning to land sales to housing associations, through its division London Square Partners, as well as holding commercial assets at its mixed-use schemes through London Square Works.
It has 1,083 homes in production, with forward sales of £180m and a land pipeline of 2,356 homes with a GDV of £1,3bn.
Mark Pain, London Square chairman, said: “It has been a difficult year for the housing industry, with the looming threat of the UK leaving the EU without a formal withdrawal agreement resulting in reduced local consumer and foreign investor confidence in the market.”
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