(Adds CEO comment, details, background)
April 27 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey
Plc said on Thursday buyer interest has risen over the
past few months, helped by an improvement in sales and mortgage
rates, even as the group remained cautious over broader economic
woes.
Britain's housing market has slowed markedly over the last
six months, weighed down by a steep rise in borrowing costs and
heightened worries on the macroeconomic front, while falling
house prices squeezed margins for the struggling housebuilders.
"We have seen continued recovery in demand from the low
levels experienced towards the end of 2022, supported by good
mortgage availability, and have seen an incremental improvement
in sales rate as the Spring selling season has progressed," CEO
Jennie Daly said in a statement.
Daly, however, said the company remained cautious over
continued macroeconomic uncertainty.
The FTSE 100 company said its net private sales in
the fiscal year until April 23 was 0.75 units, up from 0.62
reported for the first eight weeks of 2023.
Taylor Wimpey said its total order book value - a key
measure that gauges near-term demand - stood at about 2.38
billion pounds ($2.97 billion) in the reported period, up from
2.15 billion pounds seen in the first two months of the year.
Taylor Wimpey's bigger rival Persimmon said on
Wednesday trading over recent weeks had offered some signs of
encouragement, with cancellation levels normalising and sales
rates steadily improving since the start of the year.
($1 = 0.8019 pounds)
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru and Suban
Abdullah in London; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
