Housebuilder Bellway enjoys strong sales

Housebuilder Bellway announced today that it had enjoyed a “resilient” spring selling season, with visitor levels and reservation rates having surpassed expectations.

This successful period meant that Bellway’s target set at the beginning of the financial year of achieving 5 per cent volume growth is now “secure”.

Reservations increased following the introduction of government scheme Newbuy to aid first-time buyers, resulting in an overall nine per cent rise between 1 February and 31 March while private weekly sales have grown by 19 per cent over the same period.

Bellway said the scheme’s success relied on “the approach of lenders to mortgage rates and credit scoring criteria” and that it would be “some months” before the degree of its impact could be seen.

Britain’s fourth-largest housebuilder also said that the average price per reservation had risen five per cent.

The Group’s land teams have continued to be active in the market, having spent £195m on land and having agreed heads of terms on a further 4,800 plots.

Other housebuilders have also reported positive sales, with Bovis Homes Group predicting strong profit growth this year whilst Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey also reported that they had enjoyed strong sales figures.