Scramble for houses boosts Bellway

HOUSEBUILDER Bellway has already sold 200 homes for the next financial year, which starts in July, even though many of them have yet to be built.

In the current second half of its financial year reservations are roaring ahead with selling prices higher as homeowners take advantage of lower interest rates and scramble to keep ahead of the housing boom.

In the six months to January Bellway sold a record 2,306 homes with margins improving by 10% to 14.8%. Interim pre-tax profits jumped 11% as a result to £39.1m. Last year the Newcastle-based group pulled out of central London because of the high price of land and sites.

It concentrates on what it calls the middle housing market in Croydon, Ilford, Lewisham, Reading and Wembley. It has a landbank of 17,500 plots with a further 11,000 awaiting planning permission throughout the country.

Bellway has expanded into property hot spots in the Midlands with land acquisitions in Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester. It is confident it is heading for a fifth year of record figures.