Barratt’s forward sales have reached £2.5bn, compared to less than £2.1bn this time last year.
Over the past four months Barratt has seen net private reservations per week reach 261, which is 12.5% ahead of the same period in 2014. The sales rate of 0.70 net private reservations per active site per week also ahead of last year, which was 0.63 for the corresponding period.
Chief executive David Thomas said Barratt had “made a strong start to the year” despite certain constraints.
“We continue to see some pressure on skilled labour supply, with shortages remaining location and trade specific,” he said. “We are investing in training programmes to help address the labour shortage and in FY15 we employed 327 new graduates, trainees and apprentices, and we have recruited another 250 for FY16. Our materials supply chain is performing well as a result of our strong supplier relationships and centralised procurement approach. Overall, we expect build costs for FY16 to increase by c. 3-4%, in line with previous guidance.”
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