Beast from the East hits Taylor Wimpey

Shares in Taylor Wimpey dipped yesterday after the housebuilder reported a slowdown in sales and build rates, which were partly affected by extreme weather in March.

In a trading update covering the first four months of the year, the group said the value of its order book fell 2.5 per cent to £2.16 billion.

It also saw the number of homes on the order book fall from with 9,219 to 9,050.

“During the first few weeks of March, the poor weather conditions had a noticeable impact on sales and build rates but activity has since recovered,” Taylor Wimpey said.

Average private sales for the year to date were 0.85 per outlet per week, down from 0.93 but in line with the firm’s expectations. The shares fell more than 3 per cent in morning trading.

Nevertheless, the group described the underlying housing market as “stable”, with good accessibility to mortgages for buyers at competitive rates.

The company also expects completions for 2018 to be weighted towards the second half of the year.

Taylor Wimpey chief executive Pete Redfern said: “We have continued to see good demand for new housing through early 2018.

“Looking ahead, as we embark on the next stage of our strategy, our focus is on building our capability to deliver great quality homes and places for our customers over the long term.”

Trading through the spring selling season has been good and customer demand for housing continues to be strong, the group added. 0 Pete Redfern says demand is good so far