<p><span>Berkeley’s pre-tax profit fell 16.6% during its first half year, it said today (December 4).</span></p><p></p> <p><span>During the six months to October 31 2020, the housebuilder’s pre-tax profit dropped to £230.8 million from HY 2019’s £276.7 million.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>With the impact of Covid-19 permeating the period, Berkeley’s home sales dropped from last year’s 1,389 to 1,104. Their average selling price was up, at £799,000 (2019: £644,000), which the business said reflected the mix of properties sold during the period.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>Revenue slipped 3.8% to £895.9 million, with operating profit down 11.1% to £228 million.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>Berkeley said that with production “recovering quickly”, it expected a more even distribution of profits during its financial year, having stated at the start of the period that it anticipated a pre-tax profit of around £500 million for the full year, “to be split broadly one third in the first half and two thirds in the second half”.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>The value of underlying sales reservations for the half year were around 15% lower than the previous financial year. Berkeley called this a “resilient performance”, given that its half year began during the first lockdown. The business said it had benefitted from the government’s stamp duty holiday.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>During the period it …