Bellway still seeing a North/South divide

The group is continuing to see a North/South divide and is selling more houses in the southern part of the country.

Bellway's finance director Alistair Leitch said the Yorkshire market has been tough, although the group has seen some good sales in the region following the Government's Spending Review.

Many buyers put off making a purchase until they knew how they would be affected by the spending cuts.

Mr Leitch said that despite the pick-up in Yorkshire over the past eight weeks, it is still a tough market to operate in.

"Our site in Leeds is a regeneration site which is dependent on first-time buyers and it's proving difficult," he said.

Another site in Doncaster, which had attracted 100 visitors but no reservations before the spending review, has since taken eight bookings.

The group is selling fewer apartments, which mainly cater for first-time buyers, and more houses, which are aimed at the family buyer.

Bellway has 3,614 sales secured for this fiscal year, a rise of four per cent, and 400 for the next financial year. Average selling prices rose over eight per cent to 167,600 and Bellway will try to push this up to 170,000 by next summer.