In a trading update, Barratt Homes reported profits which far outstripped analysts’ expectations today and fellow building firm Taylor Wimpey confirmed a profit rise of 38.4% to December 2013 yesterday.

It completed 11,696 homes in the calendar year, a rise from the 10,866 built in the previous year.

However, it appears the majority of brokers have not been able to capitalise on the uptick in house building with 62% of respondents to the latest Mortgage Solutions People’s Poll saying they have not completed a single case in the past month.

Those who do complete new-build cases appear to be heavily involved in the sector with 11% of brokers completing five or more cases while a further 22% said they had completed three or four cases in that time.

The remaining 5% of voters said they had completed one or two cases in the past month.

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“After several years where a weak economy has reduced the number of customers able to get a mortgage, we have seen market-led house price increases across all of our regional markets,” Taylor Wimpey said of the UK market earlier this week.

“Customer confidence remains good, with increased employment security and a more affordable and accessible mortgage market underpinning demand.”