Housebuilder Barratt Developments has posted record annual figures but signalled that Britain’s property market may be cooling as reservations fell below pre-pandemic levels.
The UK’s largest housebuilder reported underlying pre-tax profits at an all-time high of £1.05bn for the year to June 30, up 14.7% on the previous year on revenues up 9.5% at £5.3bn. But in a sign that home-buyer demand may be dampening due to rising interest rates and cost-of-living worries, Leicestershire-based Barratt revealed that weekly net private reservations per site fell to 0.6 since its year end - down from 0.82 in the year to June and below the 0.7 level seen before the pandemic.
It added that it expects house price growth to ease back over the coming months “whilst build cost inflation continues at between 9% and 10%”, which could hold back growth in profit margins. The comments came as lender Halifax released figures showing that while house prices hit a record high of £294,260 in August, the annual rate of growth dropped to 11.5% from 11.8% in July - the lowest level in three months.
