Vistry to explore shared ownership

Vistry

Vistry Group is looking to use its all-profit registered provider to offer a shared ownership product “to plug the gap” left by the closure of Help to Buy, it said today (March 22).

Speaking to Housebuilder, Keith Carnegie, ceo of Vistry’s Housebuilding business, said the group intended to “drive shared ownership sales going forward” through its own RP.

The provider, Carnegie explained, was established in 2012 under the then-Galliford Try Partnerships “with the express intention of developing a shared ownership-type product. But When Help to Buy was launched [in 2013] it sat on the shelf”.

Help to Buy officially expires on March 31, although last week Homes England extended the legal completion deadline to May 31 from March 31. If the housebuilder applies for this extension, they have until April 28 to finish building.

Carnegie also said sales in the Housebuilding business were likely to decline 20% this year against the year ending December 31 2022. Reporting on its full year results today, Vistry confirmed that Housebuilding completions rose 3.4% to 6,774 homes against 2021.

The shortfall in Housebuilding completions was due to the drop in sales carried over from a “very difficult” Q4 2022, Carnegie said. But during the first 11 weeks of 2023, private sales rates across the group had improved to 0.54 average sales per site per week, rising to 0.62 in the past four weeks.

“This quarter, buyers have been cautious but interested,” Carnegie stated. “This is an indication of a market that is modestly above 2019 levels. Sales were modestly below this level at the start of the year.”

To reach the envisaged volumes, Carnegie said he would need to see a sales rate of 0.55 for the remainder of the year which, he added, was achievable.

He also said last year’s mini-Budget had “accelerated” the direction of the market, with interest rates already on an upward trajectory.

During 2022, Vistry’s Partnerships business, now renamed Countryside Partnerships following Vistry’s acquisition of Countryside in November, saw mixed tenure completions climb 17.6% to 2,455 units. According to Partnerships’ ceo Stephen Teagle, his division had been rebranded to reflect the success of the Countryside brand.

In its full year statement, Vistry said the acquisition had accelerated its strategy to rapidly grow the more “resilient” Partnerships’ revenues. Carnegie said the Housebuilding division was taking an “operational” approach to building its own resilience.

In one example, Carnegie said his business was “not being too binary” regarding which department was contributing to its sales rate. “Customer service and technical departments all contribute to our ability to sell homes”.

Stephen Teagle hailed an “excellent year” for the group, with group revenue lifting 14.1% to £3,073.2 million. Pre-tax profit rose 20.9% to £418.4 million, but statutory pre-tax profit dropped 22.5% to £247.5 million, thanks to a £97 million fire safety provision from building safety pledge and contract commitments, and a £191.8 million provision from the Countryside purchase. There was also £56.9 million spent on transaction and integration related costs.

Teagle pointed to the group’s “transformational” acquisition of Countryside Partnerships, “creating one of the country’s largest housebuilding providers”.

He also said: “The acquisition has strengthened the group’s strategic landbank. We now have 19 operational areas in Partnerships and 13 in Housebuilding.”

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