Taylor Wimpey bucks the gloomy trend in housing

Taylor Wimpey shrugged off the jitters in the property industry today as boss Pete Redfern said the housebuilder was trading well despite uncertain conditions.

Rival Redrow last week reported slowing sales, while a profit warning from estate agency chain Countrywide underlined the tough conditions in the second-hand market.

Taylor Wimpey, however, said sales were “strong”, equivalent to 0.81 homes per site sold every week, compared with 0.75 last year.

Redfern acknowledged political and economic uncertainty but added that conditions such as the Government’s Help to Buy scheme were still in place to support the new-build market.

He added: “I wouldn’t want to be an estate agent at the moment because they work on high transaction volumes, and that is going to be challenged at the moment.

“But in the new-build sector, if you’ve got the right sites and got the right product for customers, things remain good.”