Barratt new homes completions set to fall

New home completions at Barratt are expected to fall to between 13,250 and 14,250 in the next 12 months, up to 23% down on the 17,206 delivered in the year to the end of June 2023.

In a trading update on the year ahead of final results in September, the housebuilder has confirmed that reservations slowed sharply at the end of 2022 and although they improved in the Spring reservations “slowed more than the normal seasonal trends from mid-May to the end of June”.

In the year to the end of June, net private reservations per active outlet per week were 0.55 (FY22: 0.81) – this includes a contribution of 0.10 from increased reservations into the private rental sector and to registered providers of social housing. The firm has a strategic partnership with Citra Living which provides homes for the rental market. In June Barratt announced the sale of 604 homes to Citra, which helped boost the reservation rate since late April to 0.67. The firm operated from an average of 367 outlets in the year up from 332 in the year before – this was partly because the slower reservation rate extended the sales activity at some outlets. Barratt expect …