Member Article

Dorset housebuilder still seeing strong demand for new homes

Barratt Developments in Dorset is continuing to see a strong demand for its high-quality new homes and has not been affected by the industry’s material shortage, according to its recent trading update.

The leading housebuilder, which is bringing new homes to the county through its Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes developments, has released its update from the period 1st July to 10th October 2021, and the results are extremely positive.

Despite the reduction in the Government’s Help to Buy support earlier this year – now available to only first-time buyers – the developer is still seeing a high number of buyers reserving its brand-new homes.

In the year to date, Barratt has reported an average net private reservation rate of 281 homes per week, an increase from the 262 reported in the same period last year.

Reflecting this continued strength in demand, the housebuilder’s total forward sales (including Joint Ventures) as of 10 October 2021 totalled 15,393 homes, at a value of £3,936.6m. This is a staggering achievement, especially while the challenges around securing sufficient and timely building material supplies continues to be an issue across the industry.

Jon Green, Barratt Developments Managing Director, Southampton Division, said: “Despite the issues surrounding the supply of materials across the industry, we have not experienced any significant disruption to our own build programme, with our sites continuing to operate successfully throughout the country.

“This positive start to the new financial year is particularly encouraging given the significant year on year reduction in Help to Buy reservations and the ending of the stamp duty holiday.

“We remain on track to deliver both our FY22 and medium-term targets set out in the FY21 results, whilst maintaining our commitment to leading the industry in the quality and sustainability of our homes and in customer service, which we believe is fundamental to our ongoing success.”

Barratt continues to expect to grow wholly owned completions to between 17,000 and 17,250 homes in FY22 and, in addition, deliver around 750 home completions from its Joint Ventures.

It also remains disciplined and selective in its approach to acquiring new land. The housebuilder has approved the purchase of 3,735 plots across 15 sites and continues to expect to approve between 18,000 and 20,000 plots in FY22.

And, in line with its commitment to being the leading national sustainable housebuilder, the business is well placed for the changes being introduced with the Future Homes Standard in 2022 as it continues to drive towards ensuring all of its new house types are zero carbon in use from 2030.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Barratt Homes .