Newcastle housebuilder Bellway has announced it has built a record number of new homes in the first six months of its financial year.
The firm, which is currently building its new headquarters as the anchor tenant for the Newcastle Airport Business Park, said that 5,321 homes were finished in the half, a 6.3% rise on the year before.
It said it had seen strong demand for private homes, with an 11% rise in the private reservation rate to 151 per week and a 6% increase in the overall reservation rate to 194 per week, building on last year’s record performance for a first half trading period.
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Ongoing investment in land will drive forward growth in the years ahead, with 7,005 plots contracted – up on last year’s 5,980 plots.
In the trading update, ahead of announcing its interim results on March 25, the firm hailed another six month period of positive sales, benefitting from its investment in new outlets and ongoing demand for reasonably priced, high quality housing.
It said affordability remains good, supported by positive employment conditions, low interest rates and the availability of higher loan to value mortgage products, arising as a result of the government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Chairman Paul Hampden Smith said: “Bellway continues to increase the supply of affordably priced, good value new homes, following another successful trading period in which it has achieved further volume growth.
“Looking forward, a robust balance sheet, operational capacity for expansion and a strong order book should ensure that the group is well placed to deliver additional, long-term volume growth, thereby continuing our disciplined growth strategy.”
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Despite political uncertainty towards the end of the calendar year, Bellway’s customers stayed interested, the company said.
With the election behind them, house buyers are coming out with “renewed consumer optimism” in 2020 which is helping the housing market.
The company has a mildly stronger order book of 4,598 homes, 11 ahead of last year, but the book value is £8.2m lower.
In the trading statement the firm said: “There remains some cost pressure affecting the wider industry, however, trading conditions are encouraging and early indications suggest that there will be a return of the usual, traditionally strong spring selling season.
“This, together with the sizeable forward sales position, should facilitate further, yet more moderate volume growth for the full financial year.
“In an environment of flat house prices, the operating margin will continue to moderate towards a more normalised level, in line with previous guidance. As a result, the board expects profit before tax for the full year to be in line with current market consensus.”
Statistics from the National House Building Council (NHBC) show that more new homes were registered in 2019 across the 海角视频 than at any point since the financial crisis.
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Last year 161,022 new homes were recorded, the highest since 198,693 in 2007. Houses are registered before being built, which means many will come to market this year.
Earlier this week Newcastle-founded Barratt Developments said it is ready for tough challenges in 2020 as it showed off a 91% jump in completed homes in the first half of the year