Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reports surge in demand after sales centres reopen
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reported a “very high” level of demand for appointments at its sale centres and show homes after reopening last month.
The development company said the majority of its show homes and sales centres in England had reopened after the government lifted restrictions on the UK housing market.
Since sales centres reopened there has been a spike in interest from potential buyers, Taylor Wimpey said.
Appointment bookings increased threefold in the last week of May and there was a 32 per cent surge in website traffic compared to the same period last year.
Taylor Wimpey, which said all staff have returned to work after some were furloughed during the lockdown, said its UK net sales rate had increased to 0.51 for the week ending 31 May, compared to 0.85 last year.
UK net sales reached 0.72 for the first five months of the year compared to 0.99 in 2019.
Meanwhile, its UK order book had increased to £2.7bn by the last week of May, up from £2.5bn last year, representing 11,228 homes.
Total group completions in the 22 weeks to 31 May were 2,455, down from 4,052 in 2019 due to the impact of site closures during the UK coronavirus lockdown.
The housebuilder, which has reopened most of its sites in England and Wales, is now preparing to resume construction in Scotland in line with government advice.
“Further to our announcement on 13 May, we have now safely reopened the majority of our sales centres and show homes in England, operating an appointment only service and with social distancing protocols in place,” Taylor Wimpey said in a statement.
“We will apply the same robust protocols after we receive support from the Scottish and Welsh Governments to resume trading from our sales centres in Scotland and Wales, which we hope will happen by early July.”