Barratt Developments’ chief executive David Thomas said the house builder had delivered a “strong operational and financial performance” in the 12 months to the financial year ended 30 June 2023, despite a fall in profits and the number of new homes delivered.
In the reporting period, net private reservations per active outlet per week fell to 0.55 from 0.81 (FY 2022) and total home completions fell to 17,206 (FY 2022: 17,908). Barrett said first time buyer reservations fell by 49% compared with last year, due to the end of the Help to Buy scheme and mortgage interest rate increases.
The house builder said it anticipated its profit before tax to be circa £180m (FY 2022: £412.5m), which was in line with current market expectations.
Barrett added it had a “solid order book” for the full year 2024 with total forward sales (including JVs) at 30 June 2023 of 8,995 homes (30 June 2022: 13,579) at a value of £2,223.4m (30 June 2022: £3,622.3m).
Thomas said: “Whilst the trading backdrop has become more challenging in recent months, with many of our customers facing significant cost of living pressures, we have responded decisively ‐ increasing our reservations into the private rental sector, using incentives for customers in a disciplined way, and flexing our build activity, land‐buying and operating costs to reflect market conditions.
“As a result, we enter the new financial year in a robust financial position with a solid forward order book and we are ready to respond to any further changes in the housing market.”
