Housebuilder completes restructuring but sees 鈥榚ncouraging鈥� prospects despite drop in sales
The number of homes sold by housebuilder Gleeson dropped by 14% in the year to June as it was hit by the fall out from the economic turmoil in the wake of last September鈥檚 mini-Budget.
The listed firm, which has historically sold houses predominantly to first time buyers, said in a trading update that it sold 1,723 homes in the year, down from 2,000 the year before, putting it on course to .
The news comes after 拢347m turnover Gleeson, which is under the leadership of new chief executive Graham Prothero following the departure of long-time boss James Thomson last year, announced it was cutting around 15% of staff at the start of the year to build a 鈥渓eaner鈥� business.
It said today that it had now reduced the firm鈥檚 previous nine operating regions to just six, resulting in an annualised cost savings on overheads of 拢3.2m, at a one-off cost of 拢1m.
The firm said the second half of the year saw it complete the sale of just 829 homes, down 23% on the 1,068 completed in 2022, which it said reflected 鈥渢he downturn in the wider economy and the immediate impact on buyer confidence as a result of higher interest rates鈥�.
The cost of living crisis, rising interest rates and cancellation of Help to Buy saw the proportion of first time buyers acquiring Gleeson homes drop to 50% from 71% the previous year, with a fifth of purchasers over 55.
The firm said that while it expected demand from first-time buyers to continue 鈥渁t the levels seen through the last few months鈥�, it anticipated that this would be compensated for by increasing 鈥渋nterest from other value-driven buyers [鈥 as purchasers look to take advantage of Gleeson鈥檚 more affordable price points鈥�.
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