Taylor Wimpey profit to be at ‘top end’ of forecasts

Taylor Wimpey has said it is on track to post full-year operating profit of around £470m.

The housebuilder, in a trading update today, said its operating profit for the year to 31 December will be at the “top end” of the £440m to £470m range it had previously forecast.

This however would still be a huge drop on the £923m posted the previous year, with the firm previously citing weak consumer confidence.

Taylor Wimpey said it completed 10,848 homes in the year, slightly exceeding its previous expected figure of between 10,000 and 10,500 but nearly a third down on the 14,154 completions the previous year. The firm built 2,388 affordable homes in 2023, down on the 2,920 built the previous year.

Its net private reservation rate fell year-on-year from 0.68 homes per outlet per week to 0.62, however its overall average selling price increase by 3.5% to £324,000. Its order book at the end of the year was £1.78bn, down on the £1.94bn posted a year ago.

Taylor Wimpey said it has opened 2024 with “good levels of enquiries” and said recent mortgage rate reductions will improve affordability.

The firm in March announced it was closing its Oxfordshire business as part of a restructuring and redundancy process to save around £20m a year.

Jennie Daly, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, said: “Despite the difficult market conditions throughout the year, we maintained a sharp operational focus and delivered a good performance.”

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Daley said the market remains uncertain and the planning backdrop “extremely challenging” but added it is encouraging to see mortgage rates reducing.

Andy Murphy, director of Content, Industrials at analysts Edison Group, said: “A strong landbank and balance sheet afford Taylor Wimpey some protection against the fluctuations of the market, and despite downturns in orders and deliverables throughout the past year, the group stands in good stead for an uptick in business in line with market recovery.”

Taylor Wimpey’s full-year results are due to be published on 28 February.