Housebuilder says it will hit 2,000 completions for the year
Gleeson has told the stock market it expects to deliver results in line with market expectations despite hold-ups in planning.
The 拢288m-turnover housebuilder said this morning it will sell around 900 homes in the first half of the year to 31 December and 鈥渘ot less鈥� than the 2,000 homes it has previously forecast for the full year to 30 June 2022.
The firm鈥檚 chairman Dermot Gleeson said demand for homes was strong, with the average selling price on new reservations since the start of the financial year 12% higher than in the same period last year.
Gleeson said: 鈥淒espite the widely reported challenges faced by the house building industry, including supply issues, increases in material & labour costs and planning delays, the business is performing well and the board expects to deliver a result for the current year in line with market expectations.鈥�
But the firm said 鈥渃ongestion in the planning system鈥� has delayed work. It is currently actively selling on 60 sites, compared with 65 sites this time last year.
It added: 鈥淎s a result of continued congestion in the planning system, not least as a result of a shortage of staff in council planning departments, there have been some delays to site acquisitions and site starts.
鈥淲ith an improvement in the planning process we expect to acquire and open a total of 25 sites during the year to June 2022.鈥�
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