(Reuters) -Taylor Wimpey became the latest British homebuilder on Wednesday to report softer sales growth during the key autumn selling season, as potential buyers hold back purchases amid fears of further property tax hikes in the upcoming budget.
The company’s weekly net private sales rate dropped to 0.63 per outlet for the June 30 to November 9 period, from 0.71 a year earlier.
“Market conditions remain challenging, impacted by uncertainty ahead of the upcoming UK budget and continued affordability pressures,” CEO Jennie Daly said in a statement.
Renewed affordability pressures and fears of property tax hikes in the November 26 budget have led to a broader slowdown in UK housing sales, compounding challenges for Taylor Wimpey.
The company swung to a first-half pretax loss in July and cut its annual profit forecast due to one-off charges.
As of November 9, its order book excluding joint ventures stood at 7,253 homes, down from 7,771 homes last year.
However, the company stuck to its annual operating profit forecast of about 424 million pounds and maintained expectations for UK home completions in the range of 10,400 to 10,800.
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
