Sales have dipped at the housebuilding arm of Galliford Try as the market cooled off from an exceptional 2014.
The company secured £982m of sales reservations, contracts and completions in the period since 1 January, down from £1bn in the same period last year.
Sales rates for Linden Homes, the company’s private house building arm, dipped to 0.68 per outlet per week during the period, down from 0.8 in 2014. However, they showed an increase on the second half of last year, when the sales rate dropped to 0.51 per outlet per week.
Executive chairman Greg Fitzgerald said he remained encouraged by trading through the year so far despite the fall because it compared to an exceptionally strong 2014. He added that land market conditions continued to be good.
The company has now exchanged contracts to buy Shepherd Homes’ Yorkshire landbank, which comprises six current sites and five sites in planning. The additional 515 plots acquired bring Galliford Try’s total landbank to a record 15,000 plots.
Fitzgerald said: “We are pleased to report all businesses – Linden Homes, Partnerships and Construction – continue to perform well with favourable market demand against a background of continuing challenges on the labour supply side in all sectors.”
