Numbers fall a quarter since last September鈥檚 mini-Budget
Berkeley has said it will take a 鈥榗autious鈥� approach to releasing new homes to the market after a sharp drop in sales in the second half of the financial year.
The housebuilder, in a trading update today, said that its sales since the end of September and the mini-Budget were around 25% lower than the first five months of 2022/23.
It said: 鈥淏erkeley remains focussed on cost control and maintaining operating margins, with build cost inflation showing early signs of moderating.
鈥淲hilst the prevailing volatility in the market persists, Berkeley will continue to match supply to demand, adopting a cautious approach to releasing new phases to the market as we focus on the quality of our forward sales.鈥�
But it said sales pricing is above business plan levels and it is on track to meet its previous forecast of 拢600m in pre-tax profit for the year ending 30 April and 拢1.05bn over the following two years.
It said that despite the 25% drop in sales in the past few months, its performance has been 鈥渞esilient鈥� in the 鈥渃ontext of the market volatility since the end of September鈥� boosted by demand in London and the South-east.
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The housebuilder also called for a separate planning category to boost brownfield development, which it said it needed as a result of changes to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and the National Planning Policy Framework.
The Surrey-based housebuilder also said it is aiming to sign the developer pledge contract with government by Monday鈥檚 deadline. The contract will give legal underpinning to its promise to carry out 鈥榣ife critical鈥� building safety works to blocks going back 30 years.
Berkeley is due to release its full-year results on 21 June.
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