Bellway forecasts drop to 7,500 completions for 2024

Bellway is forecasting completions of around 7,500 for its current financial year, against the 10,945 achieved in 2023, thanks to its “prevailing” lower reservation rates.

Reporting on its preliminary results for the year ending July 31 2023, the housebuilder said that its private reservation rate per site per week during the period had been 0.46 against 2022’s 0.70.

The overall reservation rate was 28.4% lower than the prior year at an average of 156 per week. Bellway said that during June and July, further rises in borrowing costs had dented consumer confidence and reservation rates throughout the summer.

It also said that the closure of two of its divisions would lead to a cut in staff of around 5%.

Bellway noted its reduced order book of 4,636 homes as of October 1 2023, compared to the 7,257 homes of a year before. Based on 2023’s average private reservation rate of 0.46, it said there would be a “material” reduction in volume output for the year ending July 2024.

But it plans to end its current financial year with an improved order book (this was 4,411 homes at FY 2023) “to serve as a platform for a …