National housebuilder Barratt Developments has cut its losses before tax and exceptional items to £33m (2009: £34.2m) for the year ended June 30 but has warned of challenging conditions in the housing market.
Barratt said its operating margin increased by 5.9% in the second half, returning the group to profitability of £15.5m.
Net private reservations were up 4.2% for the full year, with average selling prices up by 10.9% to £174,300 and total completions down to 11,377 (2009: 13,277).
Operating profits before exceptional items were £90.1m.
Over the 10 weeks since the financial year ended, net private reservations have decreased from 0.50 per active site per week to 0.48.
“While the outlook for the UK housing market is still challenging, our priority remains optimising prices rather than volume and securing high quality land that will continue to drive our margin recovery,” said group chief executive Mark Clare.
