Barratt orders rise as housing market heals
HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments today said customer demand for homes and prices continued to recover as it reported a 27 per cent increase in half-year orders.
But the firm said mortgage availability continued to be constrained, adding that it was focused on its strategy of selling fewer flats to drive "significant improvement in operating margin".
Barratt hopes the strategy will lift its average selling price by up to 10 per cent.
Barratt posted a narrower pre-tax loss of 178.4m in the six months to December 31, after it took a hit from exceptional items related to its rights issue, but this was up from 594.5m in 2008.