Ding-dong as Bellway delivers

Housebuilder Bellway has posted record annual profits and laid the foundations for another strong year as it yesterday predicted buoyant sales and price rises.

The Newcastle-based group reported a 12 per cent lift in pre-tax profits to £560.7 million for the year to end-july after seeing the number of completions jump 10 per cent to a record high of 9,644 homes.

Bellway dismissed concerns over a property market slowdown amid Brexit uncertainty and a rise in the cost of living, saying it expects sales volumes to grow at least 5 per cent in the new financial year.

Average prices rose 3 per cent to £260,000 in the latest trading year and are set to jump again to £280,000, it added.

Private sale price growth was even stronger in the year, at 6.3 per cent to £296,018, in part driven by “modest low, single digit house price inflation”.

The group has been benefiting from rock-bottom interest rates as well as government support for the new homes market through its Help to Buy scheme.

Bellway said that its forward order book had risen 17 per cent to £1.4 billion as of 1 October, with 5,034 homes reserved.

It added: “This strong forward sales position, together with investment in land and work in progress and plans to open a new, twentieth trading division in the north of the country this financial year, should enable Bellway to deliver further growth in volume in the year ahead.”

Thomas Buisson, an analyst at broker Liberum, hailed the latest results, and said the housebuilder looked well placed to offer “confidence that the group is well positioned to deliver on its future growth ambitions”.