Housing completions fell by nearly a fitfh to 14,000 in the year to June with Barratt warning that this year’s level of completions will be even lower at 13,000 to 13,500.
Along with a 4% fall in sale prices revenue fell 22% to £4.2bn.
During the year, Barratt adjusted site-based construction activity to lower reservations, with an average of 257 equivalent homes constructed each week, 20% below the 322 average weekly equivalent in the prior year.
Headcount at the business has fallen by 12% since the recruitment freeze introduced in September 2022.
The expected cost of delivering essential building safety work on finished developments also rose again as the firm continued to take stock of its assets.
Around half of Barratt’s portfolio under review has been assessed under the Fire Risk Assessment of External Walls with 26 more buildings found to need remedial works.
Barratt said it was pressing ahead with remedial work as quickly as possible. Of the 262 buildings now under review at year end, 137 were in progress at tender, site mobilisation or remediation stage.
The additional works raised provisions for fire safety and external wall systems by £126m to a total £628m.
Separate problems with concrete frame design at a further two developments in addition to its large Citiscape flats scheme also increased provisions for reinforced concrete frames by £56m to £102m.
David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt, said: “Building safety considerations are paramount in prioritising and scheduling remediation works. Our dedicated Building Safety Unit manages our ongoing building safety remediation programme, which we expect to deliver over the next five years.”
On the wider group performance over the year, he said: “We are pleased to have delivered total home completions at the upper end of our expectations for the year, despite the challenging backdrop.
“Although the macro backdrop remains challenging, particularly demand sensitivity to current mortgage pricing and a lack of higher loan to value mortgage availability we have a strong balance sheet with significant net cash and a solid forward sales position, which allows us to enter FY25 with confidence.”
“Given the subdued but more stable market backdrop and the growing number of land opportunities available we expect to increase our land approvals significantly in FY25 whilst maintaining our rigorous land investment requirements.”
