LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Residential developer Taylor Wimpey Plc. (TW.L) reported Wednesday that it is on track to deliver full year 2019 results in line with expectations, albeit with slightly higher volumes and slightly lower operating margins than guided at the half year.
In its trading statement, the company said that it continued to see good demand for its homes in the second half, and has a very strong order book.
The company's current total order book, excluding joint ventures, represents 10,433 homes as of November 10, compared to 9,843 homes last year. The order book stands at about 2.7 billion pounds, an increase of 12.5 percent.
The UK housing market remained resilient through the second half of 2019, continuing to benefit from strong underlying demand, low interest rates, a competitive mortgage market and the Government's Help to Buy scheme.
In the UK, sales rates for the year to date have remained strong at 0.96 sales per outlet per week, compared to 0.81 last year. The company achieved a very good sales rate of 0.92 in the second half of the year to date, up from 0.77 last year. Cancellation rates for the year to date remain low at 15 percent.
Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, said, 'In spite of wider political and economic uncertainty, housing market conditions have remained resilient.'
The company also reiterated its commitment to returning about 610 million pounds by way of total dividend to shareholders in 2020.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX