By Raechel Thankam Job
(Reuters) -Britain’s largest homebuilder Barratt Redrow on Tuesday missed its annual forecast for home completions and warned confidence among buyers remained “fragile”, sending its shares down almost 13%.
The group announced 16,565 home completions for the year ended June 29, below its forecast of 16,800 to 17,200, chiefly due to delays in transferring ownership to international customers and to the private rented sector in London.
Completions involve homes that have been built and the official transfer of ownership to the buyer.
London has been a weak spot for Barratt Redrow in the past year as completions and margins have been weaker than in its regional business.
Britain’s faltering economy is weighing on consumer confidence and tempering housing demand, overshadowing a gradual decline in interest rates and government incentives that have recently offered some optimism.
The slow roll-out of reforms to enhance safety and modernise the housing sector has also hampered delivery targets for builders, including Barratt Redrow, which expects its average number of sales outlets to be broadly flat in fiscal 2026.
High-end homebuilder Berkeley, which has a strong London presence, in June cut its profit expectations for the next two years, blaming market and regulatory pressures.
“Homebuyer confidence remains fragile,” Barratt Redrow said in a trading statement, echoing concerns around affordability raised by rivals including Persimmon and Vistry.
While government support could help demand, particularly in high-cost areas like London and South East England, Barratt Redrow is leaning on incentives like topping up deposits to support buyers, CEO David Thomas said during an analyst call.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed company hit their lowest since October 2022 on Tuesday, and pulled the broader housing index down 4.7%.
Barratt Redrow, formed after the merger of the two eponymous companies last year, said it expected fiscal 2025 adjusted profit before tax and charges to be in line with analysts’ consensus forecast of 582.6 million pounds ($783.1 million).
For fiscal 2026, it expects home completions to rise to between 17,200 and 17,800.
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru. Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
