In an end of year trading statement issued yesterday Taylor Wimpey revealed housing completions increased 5% to 14,541 homes, with an improved operating profit margin of 21.2% (2016: 20.8%).

The company has £512 million net cash in the bank (compared to £365m this time last year) even after paying out £450m of dividends to shareholders in 2017 (2016: £356m). This year it plans to give £500m back to shareholders.

Mr Redfern said that its 2017 financial results, to be published next month, would be in line with expectation and the momentum was continuing into 2018.

He added: “We achieved a strong financial and operational performance in 2017 and are continuing to deliver against our strategy. Despite wider macroeconomic uncertainty, housing market fundamentals remain solid and our trading performance has been good. We continue to increase housing completions, achieving 5% growth during the year, and ended 2017 with a good forward order book.

“We were particularly pleased with the improvements in our customer satisfaction metrics during the year, which were the result of a number of changes made to our approach in 2016. In the last six months we recorded average customer satisfaction scores of over 90%, and we will continue to prioritise making further improvements in this area.

“We go into 2018 with positive momentum and expect to achieve further progress against our medium term targets. Our focused strategy of managing the business through the cycle, while also driving further operational improvements, will enable us to continue to deliver long term value for shareholders.”