Taylor Wimpey has described the housing market as “still uncertain”, even though its own performance is “gradually improving”.
In an interim management statement, the house builder said “private sales rates for the year to date remain broadly in line with those achieved in the first half of 2009 at an average of 0.58 sales per site per week, net of cancellations (H1 2009: 0.61).
“Our order book remains strong and we are now 83% sold for our full year targeted completions.”
Taylor Wimpey said prices continue to improve and it expects to complete around 4,650 homes in the first half of the year (H1 2009: 4,702) at an average selling price of approximately £167,000 (H1 2009: £153k).
The house builder said it had continued to be active but “selective” in the land market, and has concluded a number of deals, as sellers targeted completion before the expected changes to Capital Gains Tax.
“We will remain cautious about the scale and pricing of our land buying whilst the broader economic uncertainty remains,” it added.
Taylor Wimpey has reduced its net debt to approximately £650m, compared to £750m at the end of 2009.
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