News

Barratt Redrow has reported a 12% fall in completions in a trading update released alongside its annual general meeting.

The housebuilder delivered 3,223 homes in the 17 week period from 29 June to 25 October, down from 3,665 in the equivalent period the previous year.

Its forward order book stood at £3.32bn, up from £3.28bn, while its underlying private reservation rate for the period was 0.53, down from 0.57.

“Our trading performance in the first 17 weeks of the financial year has been resilient against a backdrop of challenging market conditions, with continued pressure on affordability,” said chief executive Dean Banks.

“While the underlying private reservation rate has been softer, we have seen stronger demand from the private rental sector.”

Banks welcomed the government’s support for first-time buyers with its Your First Home scheme saying that, alongside planning reform, it “has the potential, over time, to support increased housing delivery”.

Despite this, the housebuilder said it was too early to assess its impact on first-time buyer activity.

Barratt Redrow said its guidance for the year remained unchanged ahead of the release of its interims on 17 February 2027.

Meanwhile, construction workloads fell in the third quarter of 2026 as housing activity slowed down amid financial concerns, according to the latest RICS UK survey.

The headline workloads indicator fell to a net balance of -7% from -4% in Q2, marking the sixth consecutive quarter in negative territory. This means more respondents to RICS’ construction monitor survey reported a decrease in workloads than an increase.

Private housing remained the weakest sector, with its workload net balance declining to -18% from -12% the previous quarter, while public housing dropped to -6% from +1%.

For private commercial construction, the net balance slipped three percentage points to -10%. But private industrial activity improved slightly at -7%, up from -9%.