In its latest trading update, the builder said the net private sales rate was 0.51 homes per outlet per week in the second half of the year to date, down slightly from 0.91 in 2021.
It noted that net private sales rate was 0.74 homes per outlet per week for year to date, which compares to 0.95 homes in the same period last year.
Taylor Wimpey said this reflected the “customer response to heightened levels of economic uncertainty”.
The cancellation rate for the second half of the year came to 24 per cent, which is double the figure from 2021, and its year-to-date cancellation rate came to 18 per cent. This is up from 14 per cent in the same period last year.
Taylor Wimpey said its current total order book, excluding joint ventures, was £2.6bn, slightly down from £2.8bn last year.
This represents 9,153 homes of which 79 per cent are exchanged.
Taylor Wimpey said visits to its website was at a “good level”, but conversions were taking longer. It noted that customers who had locked in mortgage rates “remain keen to complete their purchase”.
The builder said it had increased cost as well as management control and focused its sales teams for “selling in a tougher market”.
It added: “Higher mortgage rates will contribute to the wider cost-of-living challenges affecting our customers. Despite the more challenging short-term conditions, we remain confident in the long-term sector fundamentals with a continued meaningful supply and demand imbalance in UK housing.”
Jennie Daly, Taylor Wimpey’s CEO, said: “In a challenging economic and political backdrop we are performing well and are on track to deliver full year operating profit in line with market expectations.
“While sales rates have been impacted by wider economic uncertainty, we continue to see good levels of customer interest in our homes and a desire to get onto or move up the housing ladder.”
She added: “Taylor Wimpey is an agile business and we have been focused on operational efficiency and execution. We operate from a position of financial strength and as we continue to navigate the current macro-economic challenges, our quality landbank in customers’ preferred locations positions us well.
“We will continue to manage the business with discipline as we seek to deliver value for all our stakeholders.”
