UK's Barratt targets pre-pandemic levels of home completions for FY22

London

BRITAIN'S biggest homebuilder Barratt Developments Plc said on Thursday it plans to increase the number of home completions in the current fiscal year to pre-pandemic levels, allaying concerns about a cooling housing market.

Cheap loans, a more than year-long tax holiday expiring this month, and a preference for larger homes from those who saved up during the pandemic boosted United Kingdom's housing market, although some data pointed to a cooling in the sector recently.

Chief executive officer David Thomas said in a statement that there is a "very strong demand for houses across the country", while adding that the company is also working towards its medium-term target of 20,000 home completions a year.

Barratt said it plans to increase wholly owned completions to between 17,000 and 17,250 in the financial year through June 30, 2022, with an additional 750 joint-venture completions also targeted. The company completed 17,856 units in the pre-pandemic fiscal year of 2019.

The homebuilder said its forward sales - a key housing metric accounting for homes to be delivered and paid for at a later date - as of Aug 22 stood at £3.94 billion (S$7.3 billion), compared with £3.71 billion in the 2020 period and £3.04 billion in the comparable period in 2019.

The FTSE 100 firm also declared a final dividend of 21.9 pence per share.

Last month, UK's second-largest homebuilder Persimmon and number three player Taylor Wimpey also forecast robust housing demand even after the expiry of the tax holiday.

The company's annual pre-tax profit came in at £812.2 million, compared with £491.8 million in the pandemic-hit 2020 fiscal year, but lower than the £909.8 million reported in the prior year. REUTERS