Barratt Redrow reports 'softer' private home reservations
Barratt Redrow said it has seen “softer” private home reservations in recent months as affordability pressures weigh on potential homebuyers.
Britain’s biggest housebuilder said home completions also dipped over the first four months of the financial year.
Boss Dean Banks said: “Our trading performance in the first 17 weeks of the financial year has been resilient against a backdrop of challenging market conditions, with continued pressure on affordability.
“While the underlying private reservation rate has been softer, we have seen stronger demand from the private rental sector.”
The company reported that its underlying private reservation rate declined to 0.53 for the 17 weeks to October 25, compared with 0.57 for the same period a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the total reservation rate improved slightly to 0.59 from 0.57 from a year earlier.
Barratt Redrow also revealed home completions of 3,223 for the 17-week-period, falling from 3,665 over the same period last year.
The group also reported that its order book grew to £3.32 billion, up from £3.28 billion a year earlier.
The update comes after an autumn Budget which saw the Government announce a new First Time Buyer ISA and Your First Home scheme, aimed at helping people get on the property ladder.
Mr Banks said: “We welcome the Government’s ‘Your First Home’ scheme and its support for first-time buyers.
“Alongside planning reform, the scheme has the potential, over time, to support increased housing delivery.”
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “Traders are focusing on the improvement in Barratt’s order book, even if it is relatively slight.
“But it is sufficient to overcome the negative performance in recent months.”
Oli Creasey, head of property research at Quilter Cheviot, said: "Barratt Redrow's first quarter trading statement is one of a company operating in a challenging environment, but finding ways to keep things moving.
"The company's sales rate (sales per outlet per week) has notched up incrementally in its first quarter (July-Oct) compared to the equivalent period last year, even as the private sales rate fell around 7 per cent.
"That shortfall was made up by bulk sales to the private rented sector, a channel that wasn't in use 12 months ago. The company may be a little late compared to peers in making use of this sales channel, but it has today provided some protection from falling demand from individual buyers.
"The forward order book is also higher than this time last year, both in terms of volume and value. We do note that volume of sales year to date is lower than last year (down 12%), which the larger order book should offset - the differences in volume numbers are almost identical in each case.
"This isn't a huge surprise as the company has previously guided to full year 2026/27 being more second half-loaded than typical, and that is showing through in these numbers.”