Bellway’s half-yearly housing completions rose 2.7% but its order book dipped in a “subdued” Autumn, the housebuilder’s latest trading update says.
In the six months to 31 January 2026 Bellway completed 4,702 homes, a 2.7% increase from 4,577 in the same period last of 2025. The average selling price was £322,000.
The housebuilder said the Autumn period of 2025 was hit “by “uncertainty ahead of the Government’s Budget”.
Bellway’s forward order book was 4,442 homes on 31 January, with a value of £1.24 billion, down 6% from 4,726 in the same period of 2025, worth £1.31 billion.
The firm said it is still set to deliver around 9,200 homes over the full year.
Bellway chief executive Jason Honeyman said: “Bellway has delivered a robust first half performance in a challenging market. Notwithstanding the current industry headwinds, our forward order book and strong outlet opening programme leave us well-placed to meet our targeted growth in volume output for the full year, and I remain confident that we can drive increased cash generation and shareholder returns in FY26 and beyond.
“We welcome the Government’s reforms to the planning system, however, to make meaningful headway against its ambitious housing targets, the Government must also make an early commitment to ease demand-side pressures by introducing essential financial support for first-time buyers.”
The Bellway trading update added: “While we remain mindful of the sensitivity of customer demand to mortgage affordability and the evolving economic backdrop, we have been encouraged by a pick-up in both reservation rates and leads for our sales teams.”
The trend for a slight rise in completions but a reduced order book was shared by Bellway rival Taylor Wimpey, whose last trading update was in January for the period to the end of 2025.
Taylor Wimpey’s latest update shows a slight uptick in completions but a dip in the order book at the year end.
Total group completions including joint ventures were 11,229 (2024: 10,593). UK home completions excluding joint ventures were 10,614 (2024: 9,972).
Taylor Wimpey delivered 2,220 affordable homes excluding joint ventures (2024: 2,178), equating to 21% of total UK completions (2024: 22%).
UK average selling price on private completions was £374k (2024: £356k), and the overall average selling price was £335k (2024: £319k).
The company ended the year with an order book valued at £1.86bn (31 December 2024: £1.99bn), excluding joint ventures, which represents 6,832 homes (31 December 2024: 7,312 homes), of which 2,902 are private (2024: 3,208) and 3,930 are affordable (2024: 4,104).
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