<p>Barratt has announced a “strong” first half, with the housebuilder expecting to complete more than 18,000 homes for its full year, ahead of previous expectations and an improvement on pre-pandemic levels.</p> <p>Reporting on its results for the six months ending December 31 2021, the company said that its sales rate was 2.6% up on the same period the previous year at 0.79 net private reservations per active outlet per week. </p> <p>This sustained strong activity was “ahead of expectations” against the previous half year, a period characterised by pent up demand following the first national lockdown, the stamp duty holiday and increased activity ahead of the new iteration of Help to Buy.</p> <p><span>At the same time, Barratt’s half year completions were 11.1% below the comparable period at 8,067 homes. The firm said this reflected the return to a more regular seasonal pattern of completions, with the comparative half year driven by Barratt’s improved level of work in progress being carried into the new financial year. During the pre-pandemic HY20, the company completed 8,314 homes.</span></p> <p><span>Its private average selling price rose to £327,400 against the previous half year’s £319,500 which Barratt said reflected house price inflation of around 5%, offset by …