Berkeley on course for profit goal but airs regulation concerns

Berkeley Group is on course to achieve “at least” £975 million of pre-tax profit over the next two years, although it has pointed out the negative effect of regulatory change on new homes delivery.

In a trading update for the period from November 1 2024 to February 28 2025, the housebuilder said the “modest improvement” it had seen in sales reservations at the time of its interim results in December had continued, with sales rates ahead of last year.

But it added that it needed to see greater confidence in the direction of interest rate reductions and “wider economic stability” for sales rates to return close to those of three years ago.

At the same time, it had maintained “its strong financial position” after accelerating shareholder returns since its half year (October 31) through share buy backs and the anticipated settlement of around £180 million of land creditors in the second half of the year.

Its pre-tax profit across 2025 and 2026 is set to be close to £1 billion, with £525 million anticipated in FY 2025 and £450 million in FY 2026.

However, Berkeley stated that it remained concerned “by the impact of the extent and …