In its half-year results to 31 December 2022, the firm said that reservations had shown a “modest uplift” since the start of the year, which was helped by future interest rate and energy cost expectations, and more competitive mortgage rates.
“The sustainability of this recovery however remains uncertain, notably with respect to the challenges still faced by first-time buyers,” it added.
Barratt pulling in horns
The housebuilder said that it had taken a few actions to respond to market conditions, which included “significantly reducing” land approvals, pausing recruitment of new employees and bringing in further controls for new site openings.
Barratt said that reservation activity in February and March would “determine whether any further planned actions will be required”.
Barratt chief executive David Thomas (pictured) said that the group was in a “strong position” pointing to net cash and solid forward sales position.
However, he reiterated that its full-year results were dependent on how the market evolves through the Spring selling season.
He continued that there was “improved reservation activity” in the first two months of this year and he expected to deliver total home completions of between 16,500 to 17,000 by year-end.
The firm delivered total completions of 8,626, which is around seven per cent up on the previous period.
Its adjusted profit before tax increased by around 16 per cent to £521.5m.
Net private reservations per active outlet per average week for January came to 0.49, which is 45.6 per cent below the same period in 2022.
The firm said that this showed more “tentative demand” so far this year, but it is an uplift in activity from the tail-end of last year.
Forward sales at of 29 January came to 10,854, which is down from 15,736 at the end of January last year. The value comes to £2.7bn, which compares to £4.1bn.
Around 8,179 homes of these total forward sales have been exchanged or contracted. At the end of January last year 11,362 homes have been exchanged or contracted.
