Taylor Wimpey enjoys solid trading

Taylor Wimpey's average selling price for Yorkshire rose 8 per cent to 209,000 from 194,000 in 2015

The FTSE 100 firm reported good demand for housing and solid trading, with completion numbers rising to 13,881 from 13,341 the previous year.

The group said lower interest rates and a wide range of mortgages helped to drive sales.

It reported a strong performance in Yorkshire in 2016, citing good levels of demand and solid market fundamentals.

The average selling price for Yorkshire rose 8 per cent to £209,000 from £194,000 in 2015.

In 2016 total home completions in Yorkshire rose 7 per cent to 1,772 and the group delivered 260 affordable homes in the region, up from 245 in 2015.

The company said home completions in the UK including joint ventures jumped to 13,881 in the year to December 31, while the overall average selling price rose by 11 per cent to £255,000 from £230,000 in 2015.

The firm credited low interest rates with helping to ramp up demand.

It said that customers continue to benefit from a wide range of mortgage products and low interest rates with customer confidence remaining robust.

The group reported a slight rise in the cancellation rate from 12 per cent to 13 per cent and a drop in the private reservation rate from 0.73 homes per outlet per week to 0.72.

The year-end order book excluding joint ventures edged lower to £1.68m from £1.78m.

Chief executive Pete Redfern said the company was pleased with the figures, considering "wider macroeconomic uncertainty".

"In a market characterised by solid fundamentals, we ended the year with a strong forward order book and made good progress against our enhanced medium-term targets," he said.

Taylor Wimpey's latest trading update comes ahead of its earnings release on February 28, when analysts expect full-year operating profits to come in between £706.4m to £755m.

Mr Redfern said profits are expected to come in at the upper end of market consensus.

Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst George Salmon said: "After an initial Brexit dip, house price growth and mortgage approvals have both stabilised recently and, as might be expected for a country with such a chronic housing shortage, the fires of demand continue to burn strongly.

"However, despite things looking brighter, the group continues to adopt a more cautious approach to land acquisitions. This is sensible as all manner of potential knock-on effects are still possible for the UK economy as Britain negotiates its exit from the EU."