Economic uncertainty sees Barratt reservations dip

Barratt has seen private reservations fall below last year’s levels since July as economic uncertainty, the cost of living crisis and interest rates start to impact customers.

In a trading update for the period from July 1 to October 9 issued today, Barratt said net private reservations per average week were 188 (FY22: 281) and net private reservations per active outlet per average week were at 0.55 (FY22: 0.85).

The firm said that the private reservation rate in the period reflects customer response to increased wider economic uncertainty, where growing cost of living concerns have been compounded by increased mortgage interest rates and reduced mortgage availability. “In addition we have limited availability of homes for early occupation given the strength of our forward order book,” Barratt said, “and we have also seen the expected reduction in Help to Buy activity, which accounted for 12% of private reservations in the period (FY22: 21%; FY21: 51%; FY20: 45%).”

Barratt ceo David Thomas said: “We continue to see strong levels of interest across the country, however private reservations remain below the level seen in FY22 as customers react to the wider economic uncertainty.

“Whilst the outlook for the year is less …