06 Sep Barratt Developments – outlook murky at best
Barratt Developments, one of the UK’s largest housebuilders, has released its full year results:
· Home completions fell by 3.9% to 17,206
· Adjusted profit before tax down 16.2% to £884.3 million
· Barratt says that it expects market conditions to be “difficult” over the coming months. Targeting total home completions of 13,250 to 14,250 in FY 24
Charlie Huggins, Manager of the ‘Quality Shares Portfolio’ at Wealth Club, commented:
“Lower home completions combined with elevated build cost inflation have taken their toll on Barratt Developments and its peers. New home buyers are clearly exercising greater caution, and the outlook for the coming months is highly uncertain.
Mortgage rates have increased significantly over the past year and have been highly volatile from one week to the next, making it very difficult for home buyers to plan their next move. First time buyers have experienced even greater pressure, given the limited availability of high loan to value mortgages and the end of the Help to Buy scheme in England.
Barratt is doing everything it can to weather the storm, reducing costs and stepping back from the land market. But like all housebuilders, it has limited control of its own destiny and needs market conditions to improve.
The outlook for Barratt is murky at best right now. Cracks are starting to appear in the housing market, and while interest rates should be close to peaking, first time buyers remain under enormous pressure. Until there is greater clarity on the future path of interest rates it seems unlikely market conditions will significantly improve.”
