Crest Nicholson chief executive Stephen Stone said that a continuing flow of immigrant labour was essential to maintaining growth in house-building output.
He said that the impact of the Brexit vote has been only limited, but the future impact of withdrawal remained to be seen, depending on to what extent the government feels compelled to slam the brakes on immigration.
Reporting a 24% rise in Crest Nicholson revenues for fiscal 2016 and a 27% rise in pre-tax profits, Mr Stone said: “While the UK's vote to leave the EU in June had a temporary effect on our sales volumes, the impact was relatively short lived, with reservations and consumer confidence stabilising within a few weeks. The long-term implications of the EU vote are still unknown, and we could experience a slower rate of growth in 2017 and 2018, if political or economic factors reduce consumer confidence.”
He continued: “There is also a potential risk to our labour market, as European workers in the UK's construction force have been essential in delivering much needed homes. It is important to the objective of increasing housing output that a supply of European labour is maintained.”
He added that there was already a continuing overall shortage of skilled labour in the industry, which is driving up wage and salary costs, adding to build cost inflation. Crest Nicholson’s gross margins for the year to 31st October 2016 were 26.7%, down from 27.5% in 2015.
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