The firm – which is Britain’s biggest homebuilder – suffered from a slow summer of home purchases due to a continued rise in mortgage rates which has impacted potential buyers’ confidence.

In July and August, Barratt sold 0.4 homes per week at each of its 360 outlets, which is a third fewer than in the same period of last year and half as many as it was selling in summer 2021.

In a trading update released yesterday, David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Homes, said: “We have continued to trade in line with the expectations set out in our announcement in September. The trading environment remains difficult, with potential homebuyers still facing mortgage challenges.”

Mr Thomas added that despite this, the firm’s recent performance had been in line with his expectations, and he stated that Barratt still expects to deliver total home completions of between 13,250 and 14,250 homes in FY24. In comparison, Barratt constructed 17,206 properties in its last financial year, The Times reports.

Barratt saw sales rates rise to 0.44 homes per site at the end of August. But this rise is not a significant improvement to how the homebuilder was faring after the mini-budget last year. 

Last month, Barratt Developments said the number of home completions dropped by 4% in the year to June 30, to 17,206 from 17,908, reflecting the market slowdown experienced from September 2022. The housebuilder posted £705m pre-tax profits for the year, up around 10% from £642m in the preceding period.

Yesterday, Mr Thomas stressed that whilst Barratt expects the backdrop to continue to be difficult over the coming months, “we are a resilient business with a strong balance sheet and a highly experienced management team.”

Commenting on the trading update, Douglas McLeod, regional managing director for Barratt Developments Scotland, added: “We have continued to trade in line with the expectations set out in our announcement in September. The trading environment remains difficult, with potential homebuyers still facing mortgage challenges.

“Against this backdrop, we are focused on driving revenue whilst continuing to manage build activity and carefully control our cost base. As always, we remain focused on leading the industry in building high quality, energy efficient and sustainable homes for our customers.”

The announcement caused shares in Barratt Developments to drop, as shared closed down 5%, 21.8p, at 402.1p.