In the year to 30th June 2022 Barratt Developments completed 17,908 homes, a 3.9% increase on the previous year. Revenue was up 9.5% to £5,267.9m (2021: £4,811.7m). However, pre-tax profit was down 21% at £642.3m (2021: £812.2m).

Exceptional items included huge write-downs necessary to pay for building safety works – rising by nearly 15% to a record £1.05bn. Around £408m in write-downs were related to “costs associated with legacy properties” in the year, of which £396m related to the costs necessary to meet the obligations under the cladding pledge agreed with government, under which housebuilders have agreed to fix all legacy properties going back 30 years without recourse to public funds.

The firm’s gross margin increased to 24.8%, from 23.2%, and it launched a programme to return £200m of “surplus” cash to shareholders.

Barratt chair John Allan said: “Macro-economic uncertainties remain, most notably around household energy costs and elevated inflationary pressures, changes in interest rates and the consequent impacts on employment, wage growth, house prices and consumer spending and confidence.

“As a business, we also face the prospect of higher taxation, the ongoing challenges around build cost inflation and the withdrawal of Help to Buy, which will close for new reservations at the end of October 2022.”

David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments PLC, added: “This has been a year of fantastic progress, with completions recovering to pre-pandemic levels and excellent productivity across our sites. Customers are at the heart of everything we do and we were awarded more NHBC Pride in the Job Awards than any other housebuilder for the 18th year in a row – testament to the high quality we consistently achieve across our sites.

“Our financial strength and operational excellence position us well to navigate the macro-economic uncertainties ahead. I’d like to thank our employees, sub-contractors and supply chain partners for helping us to continue to deliver the industry-leading, sustainable homes and developments our customers want and the UK needs.”