<p><span>Berkeley’s trading environment remains “challenging”, it said today (September 3) although it is set to meet profit guidance for its financial year thanks to a resilient housing market.</span></p> <p><span>Issuing a trading update for the period from May 1 to August 31, the housebuilder, which delivers homes in London, Birmingham and the south of England, said that market conditions in London had improved in response to lockdown restrictions easing.</span></p> <p><span>Outside of the capital, underlying reservations for the current stage of the financial year were in line with those in the two years before the pandemic, Berkeley said. It noted that sales prices were offsetting the price hikes seen with building materials.</span></p> <p><span>But the operating environment remained difficult, with Berkeley affected by escalating build costs during the reported period. The business said it was “mindful” of continuing issues within the supply chain and labour market, caused by Covid-19 and Brexit.</span></p> <p><span>However, with the more favourable housing market conditions, Berkeley said it was still set to deliver a pre-tax profit for the year at or above the £518 million that it reported for its year ending April 30 2021.</span></p> <p><span>“We anticipate profit to be weighted more to the first half of this financial …