Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey trumpeted a “much improved and healthier” housing market as it revealed a 42% leap in profits.
The group said there had been a meaningful recovery in demand for housing in part boosted by Scotland’s new MI New Home scheme, which aims to get more people onto the ownership ladder.
Its update came just hours after fresh data from the Registers of Scotland showed the volume of houses sold increased by more than 8% year-on-year during the second quarter of 2013.
While prices dropped, experts said there was more confidence in the market as properties began to turn over more quickly. Flats were particularly in demand, with sales volumes increasing by 16.5% during the three months to the end of June.
While Taylor Wimpey’s completed sales during the first six months of the year edged up by a modest 2% to 5,191 homes, the size of its order book reached its highest-ever level up 35% on a year earlier to a record £1.3 billion, equivalent to 7,101 homes.
The firm said it was already nearly 90% forward-sold for 2013, and forecast full-year volumes at the top end of City expectations.
Underlying pre-tax profits surged to £109 million in the first half, while average prices for private home sales rose 8% to £205,000.
Wimpey chief executive Pete Redfern said would-be customers were increasingly proving to be buyers.
“During the first half of 2013 there has been meaningful improvement in the housing market, with more positive consumer sentiment, a more available and affordable mortgage market, and the presence of Government mortgage schemes, all adding to a favourable outlook,” he said.
“Our business is ideally positioned to perform well in this environment, with a strong land position and a very effective housebuilding operation.
“We continue to open all new outlets with implementable planning permission.”
But the builder which counts sites in Arbroath, Dunfermline, Kelty, Alloa and Falkirk among its developments warned that while buyer demand has improved, the UK will continue to be hampered by a “structural undersupply” of homes that has been only partly mitigated by relaxed planning laws.
And Mr Redfern has already warned that the UK economy cannot afford to be on the hook for Help to Buy schemes indefinitely, urging a time limit to be applied to prevent the initiatives becoming a “genuine hazard” to the economy.
Taylor’s shares rose 2% as analysts at Numis Securities praised a “strong set of interim results”. They closed the day up 0.3% at 106.5p.
The group confirmed it had written back £34.1m on its land holdings that were slashed from its UK business during the downturn, when it came close to collapse.
The firm wrote down £904.4m from its UK division in 2008 and £445m in 2009.