House builder Barratt Developments has boasted “excellent” sales after lockdown led to more people wanting to move house.
The listed firm, which was founded in Newcastle but now based in Leicestershire, said the first national lockdown had led to “pent-up demand” for its home as more people acted on plans to move.
The introduction of the stamp duty holiday and the March 2021 end of Help to Buy for existing home owners also helped boost demand during the six months ending December 31.
During this time Barratt completed 9,077 home, up 9.2% on the 8,314 it completed a year earlier. Total forward sales grew by 14.3% to 13,588, at a value of £3.2bn, up from £2.7bn in the first half of 2019.
Barratt CEO David Thomas said: “Throughout the pandemic, our teams have worked hard to make our operations Covid-secure and our first priority continues to be keeping our employees, sub-contractors, suppliers and customers safe. I’d like to thank our people for their efforts in helping us to rebuild completion volumes, drive further operational improvements and deliver on our commitment to build the highest quality homes across the country.
“Despite the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic, we are confident that our operating performance and strong financial position provide us with the resilience and flexibility to respond to the operating environment in FY21 and beyond.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Barratt managed to implement a number of new Covid-19 secure working practices and protocols. This allowed the company to increase its construction activity ahead of its planned output to 298 homes per week.
However, the business did warn that as it entered December, it had a lower level of work in progress than last June, meaning it will have a greater reliance on construction activity in the second half of the year.
At the time of writing Barratt Developments’ share price had increased 4.04% to 716.8p per share.
