Taylor Wimpey optimistic

Taylor Wimpey reported first half sales of UK£ 1,1 billion (€ 1,3 billion), down -27% on the UK£ 1,5 billion (€ 1,8 billion) recorded for the same period last year.

The Group recorded an operating profit for the first half of UK£ 1 million (€ 1,1 million) prior to a -UK£ 580 million (-€ 685 million) write-down on land values and work in progress, which resulted in a pre-tax loss of UK£ 672 million (€ 794 million).

Following a pre-tax loss of UK£ 1,5 billion (€ 1,8 billion) for the first half of 2008, this year's results pointed to "better than expected market conditions," said Pete Redfern, group chief executive.

"Recent trading has been encouraging, providing evidence of significant underlying demand," he said. "The external risks from the overall economy remain, but appear to have reduced somewhat."

In the US market, Taylor Morrison reported the last three months had seen the most stable trading for three years, with signs emerging that markets will soon "bounce back."

Mr Redfern said, "We expect to see selling prices slowly recover, but they will be constrained by affordability. Conversely, we expect volume recovery to be more constrained by supply rather than demand beyond the short term."