Cala builds foundations for strong year

Housebuilder Cala Homes is forecasting “another year of growth” with 2018 likely to be dominated by the continued imbalance between supply and demand.

In October, the Edinburghbased group reported its fifth consecutive year of record revenues and profits, but claimed its growth would have been greater without “entirely avoidable” hurdles cause by local authority planning logjams.

Releasing his 2018 Scottish outlook, Cala chief executive Alan Brown said the firm had made “exceptional progress” in transforming the size and scope of the business, which builds upmarket properties across Scotland, the Midlands and the south of England.

He said: “Trading in our business across Scotland remained strong throughout the year and pleasingly we saw a stabilisation of market conditions in Aberdeen, which gave us the confidence to increase the number of homes sold and invest in new land.

“Looking ahead to 2018, although continuing uncertainty will no doubt present further challenges to the Scottish housing market, the fundamental supply and demand imbalance remains. We are confident our strategy will deliver another year of growth and enter 2018 with strong trading momentum.”

Brown said he would like to see the Scottish Government “look again” at the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, which has been criticised for denting activity at the upper end of the market, “along with the focused delivery of all types of housing through a robust planning system”. 0 CEO Alan Brown also calls for review of LBTT