<p><span>Bellway’s completions fell 31% during its full year ending July 31 2020 against 2019, “due to the considerable effect that Covid-19 has had on business operations,” it said today (August 11). </span><span></span></p> <p><span>Issuing a trading update ahead of the announcement of its results on October 20, the housebuilder said that it achieved 7,522 home completions against last year’s 10,892, affected by group-wide site closures during the lockdown period. </span><span></span></p> <p><span>The average selling price of Bellway’s homes lifted slightly to around £293,000 from 2019’s £291,968. </span><span></span></p> <p><span>From August 1 2019 until the prime minister’s lockdown announcement on March 23, Bellway’s reservation rate was up 5% at an average of 211 per week against the equivalent period the previous financial year. </span><span></span></p> <p><span>But demand has recovered to an extent since the firm began reopening sites in May, and with the added effect of the temporary stamp duty holiday, the business said it achieved an average of 140 reservations per week during the “typically quiet month” of July, but still 13.6% down on July 2019. </span><span></span></p> <p><span>For the full financial year, reservations fell 15.2% to an average of 178 per week. </span><span></span></p> <p><span>The business is now operating on 276 sites against last year’s …