Wimpey set to hike house prices in 2010
HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey is set to hike its house prices next year after yesterday reporting it had sold all the homes it targeted for 2009.
The group said the average selling price for private homes has already jumped nine per cent higher in the 12 weeks to 4 November than the £177,670 it reported in the first half. House prices showed their first annual rise in 19 months in October, according to mortgage lender Nationwide.
Taylor Wimpey said it did not experience the usual industry seasonal slowdown over the summer and sales rates have remained solid into the autumn. As a result of the encouraging performance the group said that its total order book value now stands at £1bn.
Chief executive Pete Redfern said there been no “big change over the last two months. It’s a continuation of reasonable conditions which are so much better than what people expected. But we’re still having to work quite hard to get the right number of sales”.
The group said that while transaction volumes in the land market continue to be well below normal levels it has snapped up eight new sites since the first half on “very favourable terms”.
Redfern said that its net debt stands at £860m – a significant reduction against the £1.87bn recorded at the same point last year.