Britain’s largest housebuilder delivered 8,314 new homes in the period, up from 7,622 in 2018.
Affordable housing completions increased by 28.3 per cent to 1,699 from 1,324 in the previous year.
Profit before tax was reported as £423m, up from £408n in 2018.
The builder said the housing market remains robust as “the lending environment continues to be positive with greater competition in the mortgage market and a broad spread of lenders supporting homebuyers”.
Barratt added: “We anticipate continuing government support for new-build homes to help aspiring homebuyers to get onto the housing ladder.”
Increase MMC homes
The bottom line was boosted by Barratt’s reduced exposure to the central London market and focus on other regions.
Margins were boosted by a new range of home designs from the builder, which are faster to build and reduce cost and waste.
They are also more suited to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), according to Barratt.
The builder revealed it aims to increase the number of homes it builds using MMC to increase efficiency and to help offset the shortage of skilled workers within the industry.
MMC were used for 20 per cent of home completions, with the builder now targeting to use MMC to build 25 per cent of its homes by 2025.
Cladding costs
Barratt said it has carried out a review of all of its current and legacy buildings where it has used cladding.
Following this review, the company is paying an additional £7m of costs for work involved at legacy properties associated with removing and replacing cladding.
The builder stressed it was not liable for the work, but costs would otherwise have fallen to leaseholders. In addition the firm has paid £10.8m of costs of cladding on one development built in 2001.
David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt, said: “We have achieved a strong first half performance, delivering continued volume growth and making good progress against our medium term targets.
“We have made a good start to our second half and with substantial net cash, a well-capitalised balance sheet and strong forward sales, the outlook for the full year is in line with our expectations.”
