Barratt Developments reports strong forward sales
Barratt Developments, the East Midlands housebuilding giant, will increase margins to their peak levels in three to four years maximum, but is likely to get there sooner, according to chief executive Mark Clare. He said that some 14 per cent of Barratt land bank is new land, bought since the company entered the land market in mid-2009. Barratt this morning reported a 43 per cent increase in forward sales as the housing market started to recover, but Clare remains cautious, due to growth stifled by economic uncertainty and a lack of mortgage finance. Clare also said that recent visitor levels to its sites were hit by the extreme weather conditions but, as a result of more people staying at home, website enquiries had increased by more than 100 per cent.
