Scheme helps build a fortune

Housing firms profit from Help to Buy

BOVIS yesterday became the latest housebuilder to announce record profits, thanks to a taxpayer-funded mortgage scheme.

The firm made £168million last year, up nearly 50 per cent, with sales topping £1billion. Just under 40 per cent of its private buyers used Help to Buy.

The scheme, launched in 2013, sees the Government lend up to 20 per cent of the cost of a newly built home, with no interest charged for the first five years.

On Tuesday, Persimmon, where nearly half its buyers used Help to Buy, announced annual profits hit £1billion. There are question marks over Persimmon’s future in the scheme amid controversy over build quality and fatcat pay.

This week, Taylor Wimpey said annual profits rose 19 per cent to £810million – 36 per cent of buyers used Help to Buy.

Bovis made around £44,700 profit on each of the 3759 homes it sold. The company is partway through an overhaul which, it says, has seen it tackle complaints about build quality.

Bovis also announced the creation of a Partnership Housing division dedicated to housing association work.

Analyst Russ Mould, of AJ Bell, said the UK’s nine biggest housebuilders had grown their combined cash piles by £500million to £3.5billion and dividends rose 28 per cent to £2.3billion.

Mould added: “Whether they are doing enough to please would-be housebuyers may be harder to decide.” THE owner of British Airways is flying high after posting a jump in annual profits yesterday.

International Airlines Group, which also runs Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, made £3billion after navigating turbulence elsewhere in the market. Boss Willie Walsh was even upbeat about Brexit, saying it hadn’t hit bookings and he was confident flights would continue as normal after the UK leaves the EU.