Avant steams ahead with record trading

'‹'‹The group, which formerly traded as Ben Bailey Homes in Yorkshire and the Midlands, said revenue rose 44 per cent to £368m in the year to April 30, driven by strong growth in completions and the continuing upward shift in private average selling price.The group completed 1,636 homes, up 35 per cent on the previous year.Average selling prices rose from £242,000 to £252,000 and the group has added 1,100 plots to the owned and contracted land pipeline which now stands at 6,700 plots.It reported a strong forward order book with 75 per cent of first half volumes already secured, providing a good foundation for further growth in 2018.The group said it had seen no impact from the Brexit vote or the impending General Election.Colin Lewis, chief executive of Avant Homes, said: “We’ve seen nothing whatsoever. People in the North are shrugging off Brexit concerns. We are seeing increasing economic activity. People talking about the North doing well are generating confidence.“The vote for Leave was stronger in the North. They are saying: ‘We wanted to get out. It’s up to the Government to sort it out’.”He said that the group’s record results have been driven by the strong appeal of its aspirational family homes, designed to give customers what they want, and the resilience of the markets in which it operates. “The continued investment in our land supply in prime locations across the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and the central belt of Scotland has further strengthened our platform to continue to drive significant growth. We are therefore confident of continuing to accelerate our growth and to deliver our milestone of 2,000 homes and £500m of revenues on our journey of growth,” he added.“From a market perspective, whatever the outcome of the forthcoming General Election, the Government should look to seize the opportunity of a new electoral mandate to set out its fresh thinking on how best to support the UK housing market. This includes a clear policy agenda to support the continued growth of the housing market outside of the South East, and indicating what support, if any, it plans to give home buyers after the Help to Buy scheme closes in 2021.” He said it would help buyers if they knew what will happen with Government schemes after 2021 and Northern builders need greater guidance about which housing schemes will get the go-ahead.“We talk about the Northern powerhouse'‹,'‹ which is great, but can we have the meat on the bones? Which schemes are going to be supported?“We see the North/South divide narrowing. It’s positive that the '‹N'‹orth is generating this level of interest.”Avant said it is keen to develop sites in quality locations and said it is building well designed, high specification homes with Yorkshire a key target area.It is set to open 62 plots in Stannington, Sheffield. “The Sheffield market is very strong,” said Mr Lewis.“Limited supply is driving up demand. Sheffield is booming and has a vibrant feel. We can’t build fast enough to meet demand."It is also building 120 plots in Stamford Bridge on the outskirts of York and will start selling 78 plots in Knaresborough, outside Harrogate in the autumn.It will open a new site in Apperley Bridge between Leeds and Bradford with 105 plots.“Our first site at Apperley Bridge did so well we are opening a second site next door to the original,” said Mr Lewis. “The design of the houses is being influenced by a lovely Gothic church behind the site and all the houses will be stone built.”It also has 60 plots at Idle in Bradford.Avant said that following a record autumn selling season in the first half of the financial year, the spring selling season adopted a similar pattern, with visitor levels and reservation rates outperforming the same period in 2016.