Covering the period from July 1 to October 10, the firm's trading update highlighted a slowing down in completions and reservations compared to last year. However, Barratt said trading levels remained strong, despite the ending of the stamp duty holiday and significantly reduced completions under Help to Buy.
According to its data, the business delivered 3,699 homes, down 8.3% against the same period in FY2021 when the firm saw a significant increase in home completions after the disruption created by the initial national lockdown. This compares to the 3,252 completions of the equivalent period in FY2020.
Its net private reservations per site per average week were 2.3% down on the previous year at 0.85. Barratt noted the particularly active period of last year, also including increased reservations in response to the tapering of Help to Buy in December 2020. Its reservations were 18.1% ahead of the “more relevant comparative period in FY20”.
In the year to date, 21% of Barratt’s private reservations have been secured under Help to Buy (FY21: 51%; FY20: 45%).
Barratt said it remained on track to increase wholly owned completions to between 17,000 and 17,250 homes in FY2022, as well as deliver around 750 completions under joint ventures. Completions in the current year are likely to revert to a “more seasonal pattern”, with around 45% expected in the first half and around 55% scheduled for the second.
It continues to follow its medium-term target of 20,000 homes a year.
The firm states that it has not encountered any significant disruption to its build programme despite supply shortages and added that construction activity remained in line with its planned FY2022 output, with the company constructing an average of 335 equivalent homes per average week during the reported period (FY21: 294; FY20: 364).
David Thomas, Barratt’s CEO, said: “The positive start to the new financial year has continued in recent weeks with private reservations remaining strong. This is particularly encouraging given the significant year on year reduction in Help to Buy reservations and the ending of the stamp duty holiday.”
