The FTSE 250 company, which owns Bovis Homes and acquired rival Countryside Partnerships in a £1.25 billion deal last year, said it will prioritise building homes in the public sector as it looks to meet the “acute shortage of housing in the UK”.

By focusing entirely on its “high-return, capital-light, resilient” partnerships division, Vistry thinks it should be able to return £1 billion to its shareholders over the next three years.

It will also mean 32,000 plots of land that were previously set aside for private homes will now be used for affordable or social housing.

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive at Vistry, said the sector has been hit by a “higher mortgage rate environment”, while affordable housing demonstrated “market resilience”.

He said: “The step-up in mortgage costs and increased macroeconomic uncertainty, however, led to a drop off in completions to the open market.

“In particular, we saw a significant decline in completions to first-time buyers whose ability to purchase has been most affected by the rate increases, combined with the end of the Government’s Help to Buy programme.”

Vistry announced earlier this year that it would cut about 3,000 staff, but it now expects to reduce its headcount further in November.