Housebuilder Hill cheers sales jump

Hill, one of the UK’s largest private housebuilders, on Wednesday defied Brexit jitters in the market, and toasted sales passing the £500 million mark.

The Waltham Abbey-headquartered builder, which has, or is, developing in areas such as Muswell Hill and Hackney, said it sold 1550 homes in 2018. That was up from 1400 a year earlier.

The sales helped total turnover rise 21% to £501.5 million, and pretax profits increased to £48.4 million from £47.2 million.

Andy Hill, chief executive, said: “2018 has been another strong year for Hill, seeing a rise in turnover to hit the £500 million mark is a proud milestone for our highly talented and ambitious teams.”

Growth came despite some would-be buyers delaying purchases while uncertainty around Britain’s departure from the EU persists.

The boss said: “The Brexit puzzle remains unresolved and the deadlock looks unlikely to be broken in the short term. Our approach is to continue investment, but do so cautiously.”

He added that the family-run firm predicts further growth. Hill’s development pipeline has an estimated sales value of £1.6 billion.