Member Article

Dorset housebuilder’s performance remains strong during challenging year

Barratt Developments in Dorset has delivered a strong operational and financial performance despite a year of economic and political uncertainty, according to its recent trading update.

The housebuilder, which is bringing new homes to the county through its Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes developments, has released its update for the year ending 30 June 2023, and, despite many of its customers facing significant cost-of-living pressures, the results remain optimistic.

A strong demand for the housebuilder’s new homes has resulted in a net private reservation rate of 0.55 per active outlet per average week and a completion total of 17,206 homes in the year (including 828 Joint Ventures). Although slightly down on last year’s 17,908 figures, it’s still positive considering the challenging economic backdrop.

These figures have given Barratt a pre-tax profit of c. £1,070m, which is in line with current market expectations. This reflects the high demand from buyers that’s still evident, and Barratt’s commitment to building high-quality, sustainable developments the country needs.

James Dunne, Barratt and David Wilson Homes Managing Director, Southampton Division, said: “While we’ve had to face a challenging year in the industry because of economic and political uncertainty, we have responded decisively. We have increased our reservations in the private rental sector, used incentives for our customers in a disciplined way, and have flexed our build activity, land-buying and operating costs to reflect market conditions.

“As a result, we enter the new financial year in a robust financial position with a solid forward order book and are ready to respond to any further changes in the housing market.”

Highlighting the developer’s commitment to building high-quality new homes, Barratt was awarded 96 Pride in the Job Awards for outstanding site management in the 2023 NHBC awards in June. This is more than any other housebuilder for the 19th consecutive year.

James added: “The Pride in the Job awards showcase what it takes to be a top site manager and demonstrates our long-term commitment to looking after our customers and building high quality homes.”

Barratt is also well positioned for FY24m with total forward sales (including Joint Ventures) of 8,995 homes at a value of £2,223.4m.

And, the developer’s industry-leading sustainability performance has been recognised, with the Group joining the CDP’s Climate Change A List for Leadership, one of fewer than 300 companies worldwide, and placing the Group as the most highly rated UK housebuilder. It was also given ‘Prime’ status by ISS and ranked as ‘Low Risk’ and the leading UK housebuilder by Sustainalytics - assessed as 2nd out of 86 housebuilders globally.

The housebuilder has also continued to demonstrate its leading design and innovation capabilities, with the launch and testing of the ‘eHome2’ within the Energy House 2.0 at the University of Salford.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Barratt Homes .