Bellway defies industry gloom as it beats 10,000 new home sales for first time

Bellway on Wednesday defied housing market gloom to reveal it has broken through the 10,000 sales barrier for the first time.

The FTSE 250 builder, founded in 1946, sold 10,307 homes in the year to July 31, up from 9644.

That helped its revenues to soar 16% to £3 billion.

The growth comes despite industry concerns that potential buyers may axe or freeze investing due to political uncertainty.

Bellway, which is starting work on sites in Beckton and Croydon this year, said it benefited from the Help to Buy scheme and low interest rates.

Chief executive Jason Honeyman said: “The commuter belt and outer London boroughs where we are building have strong buyer markets and there is healthy interest.”

It sounded a note of some caution about higher-priced properties which it says have “at times, experienced slower sales rates and occasionally required a greater use of incentives”.

The shares fell 96p to 2881p.