Taylor Wimpey remains confidents despite rising cancellations and fewer sales

Taylor Wimpey remains confidents despite rising cancellations and fewer sales

Jennie Daly

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it is confident it will deliver full-year operating profits in line with market expectations despite a rise in cancellation rates and a drop in sales.

The developer is selling almost half as many houses each week than it was at the beginning of the year, which it said reflected customers’ response to “heightened levels of uncertainty”.

A net private sales rate of 0.74 homes per outlet per week was achieved for the year-to-date, compared to 0.95 a year previously.

The cancellation rate also rose sharply, and now sits at 24% compared to 14% a year earlier.

However, despite that “challenging economic and political backdrop”, the company still expects to turn an operating profit of about £922 million for 2022.

“While sales rates have been impacted by wider economic uncertainty, we continue to see good levels of customer interest in our homes and a desire to get onto or move up the housing ladder,” said Jennie Daly, CEO, Taylor Wimpey.

“The world has changed rapidly and it’s challenging out there. There was certainly an effect felt from the mini-budget. We saw a fall-off in sales activities and an increase in cancellations.”

Rival builder Persimmon also warned earlier this week that higher interest rates are creating pressure on weekly sales rates and its forward sales.

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