<p>Vistry’s Housebuilding completions fell 22% on a pro forma basis during the company’s half year with the group also seeing a slowdown in open market sales in recent weeks, it said today (July 20).</p> <p>In a trading update for the period from January 1 to June 30 2023, Vistry said that completions in its Housebuilding division totalled 2,847 against the 3,219 of the equivalent period in 2022, factoring in its Countryside acquisition, as the business faced “more challenging market conditions”. </p> <p>To counteract the effect of higher mortgage rates and broader macro-economic challenges, Housebuilding entered into a number of bulk transactions with housing associations and local authorities during the half year. And in recent weeks, Vistry has been “carefully” considering site starts and new phase starts for Housebuilding.</p> <p>The group’s average weekly sales rate for the period was 0.86 against 2022’s 0.84. Excluding Housebuilding’s bulk sales the sales rate was 0.67 (2022: 0.82).</p> <p>Vistry said that during the past four weeks, its sales rate for open market private homes had slowed in response to the recent increase in interest rates and mortgage costs. Both Housebuilding and the company’s Partnerships business are mitigating the drop through buik transactions.</p> <p>Housebuilding’s adjusted revenue …