One of the UK's largest residential developers, Taylor Wimpey, reported today that the housing market remains healthy, despite the Bank of England raising interest rates.
The company said in a trading statement that the market was underpinned by continued strong customer demand, low interest rates and good mortgage availability.
It added: "The recent increase in interest rates, from 0.5% to 0.75%, has not impacted customer appetite and the mortgage market remains competitive, with good availability of low-cost, fixed-rate mortgage products.
"We continue to see healthy levels of house-price growth, reflecting the strength of the market, that are offsetting labour and material-cost inflation."
In the middle of this month, Taylor Wimpey's order book value stood at around £2.972billion, representing nearly 11,000 properties.
The value of the order book is slightly ahead of the £2.808billion recorded at the same time in 2021.
The company said it continued to make good progress on its priorities, including improving operating-profit margin and opening new outlets to enable material volume growth in 2023.
"Our focus remains on delivering our operating profit margin target of 21-22% - and we expect to see further progress towards this in 2022."
The short-term landbank at the end of March stood at about 87,000 plots - 5,000 more than a year ago.
Meanwhile, the strategic land pipeline increased by 2,000 potential plots in this period to around 145,000.
As regards the outlook, Taylor Wimpey remains mindful of the wider uncertainty caused by the conflict in Ukraine, as well as pressures on the cost-of-living caused by rising energy prices and other inflation. The company said it will continue to monitor these factors.
The company said its focus remains on price optimisation, operational delivery and cost control.
"Despite the uncertainties, demand for new housing has remained resilient - demonstrating a high level of underlying demand for our homes."
Pete Redfern today steps down from the board after nearly 15 years as chief executive and around 21 years with the business.
He is being succeeded by Jennie Daly, who was group operations director.
She said: "Trading has continued to be strong, supported by a healthy market backdrop.
"Demand for our homes remains strong, with the business well positioned to deliver further progress in 2022 and beyond."
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE, was up 62 points at 7,443 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 141-point plunge as China lockdown fears hit markets.
Brent crude futures were ahead 0.65% at $102.96 a barrel earlier today.
Companies reporting today
- Full-year results: PureTech Health
- Half-year results: Associated British Foods
- First-quarter results: Alphabet, HSBC, PepsiCo
- Second-quarter results: Visa
- Third-quarter results: Microsoft
- Trading statements: Elementis, IWG, Jupiter Fund Management, National Express, Taylor Wimpey