Barratt Developments PLC said Thursday that its annual outturn will meet board expectations, with strong demand and robust forward sales in the first 10 months of its financial year.

From the period from January 1 to May 1, the Leicestershire-based property developer delivered 4,625 home completions, slightly higher year-on-year than 4,481. Its total for the financial year ending June 30 so far is 12,692, compared to 13,558 a year prior, which reflects the returns to ‘normal seasonality’.

It is on track to deliver total home completions for the year between 18,000 and 18,250, the company said, representing annual growth of 4% to 6%.

Barratt said it is fully forward sold for the financial year. Total forward sales amounted to £4.38 billion at the beginning of May, 19% higher than the £3.70 billion a year before.

Barratt said the overall strength of the UK housing market is sufficient to weather headwinds stemming from inflation, interest rate hikes, and the withdrawal of the Help to Buy scheme.

‘We are seeing strong demand across the country for our high quality, energy-efficient homes and our excellent operational teams are working hard to meet this demand. We expect to deliver full year trading results in line with the Board’s expectations as we remain focused on growing towards our medium-term target of 20,000 homes a year,’ said Chief Executive Officer David Thomas.

Shares in Barratt were 1.2% higher at 490.30 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

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