Rises in completions and orders build Taylor Wimpey’s confidence
TAYLOR Wimpey yesterday became the latest housing firm to report a jump in the number of properties it built in the last year, buoyed by rising prices and the government’s Help to Buy policy.
Total home completions increased by seven per cent to 11,696, of which 18 per cent were affordable housing completions.
“We saw a meaningful step change in market conditions in 2013, after several years of a declining or flat market,” said chief executive Pete Redfern.
The Help to Buy policy, which aims to increase mortgage availability and affordability, led Taylor Wimpey to help over 2,900 households move up the housing ladder into their first home.
The UK’s biggest house builders, including Barratt, Persimmon and Galliford Try, have all seen rising demand for their homes as a result of Help to Buy.
Taylor Wimpey’s average selling price rose six per cent to £191,000 in the year, helped in part by the firm’s shift to better locations.
“We enter 2014 with an excellent order book, with improved margins and pricing and a very strong set of selling locations,” the company said in a statement yesterday.