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Bloomberg
Barratt Developments Plc has seen a sharp slowdown in sales rates as high borrowing costs and the threat of a house price plunge combine to undermine the UK property market.
The average number of weekly private sales at Barratt’s sites has more than halved, leading the firm to warn that it could deliver fewer homes than currently expected, according to a statement Wednesday. With a seasonal uptick in demand in the spring it will still complete 17,475 homes but without that the figure could be between 16,000 to 16,500 homes in 2023.
“Political and economic uncertainty impacted the first quarter; this was then compounded by rapid and significant changes in mortgage rates which reduced affordability, homebuyer confidence and reservation activity through the second quarter,†Chief Executive Officer David Thomas said. The homebuilder said net private reservations per week fell to 0.3 in the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with 0.69 in the same period a year earlier.