Bellway says better weather boosts sales in January

Published 07th Feb 2011

Homebuilder Bellway said visitors returned to sites, boosting sales, in January after bad weather thwarted sales before Christmas and it continued to ramp up land buys during the period.

Britain's fifth largest homebuilder by market value said it completed the sale of 2,332 homes in the six months to the end of January, compared with 2,247 in the prior year period.

"The number of visitors and subsequent reservations since the beginning of January has been encouraging however, four weeks is too short a time to consider revising our forecast for the full year," said Bellway in a statement on Monday.

Construction activity returned to growth in January, boosting confidence in the economy, but many in the industry attribute the rise to a backlog from December when poor weather hit activity.

Meanwhile house prices rose 0.8 percent in January despite an underlying weak trend persisting, the Halifax survey showed on Friday.

Housing prices have been falling since late last year and economists reckon the housing market will continue to soften this year, with economic uncertainty and a struggle to access credit deterring buyers from entering the market.

Bellway said the average selling price rose 8 percent to 168,000 pounds as the company shifts its product mix away from flats towards houses.

Source: ' Reuters '

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