Housebuilder Barratt Redrow (LON:BTRW) lowered its target for future housing completions alongside its final FY26 results. The downgrade will be a further disappointment to those hoping for signs of an early upturn in the UK new-build housing market.
Lowering its target for FY27 completions
For the year to June 2027, Barratt Redrow cut its forecast for housing completions from a midpoint of around 18,000 units to 17,700 units. The firm said its new target included around 600 completions from joint ventures, in line with its previous target.
The downgrade came in spite of an uptick in the net private weekly reservation rate since the end of June. Also, forward sales of homes are currently higher than the same point last year at 11,200 compared to 10,593 homes.
However, the firm said it was only 45% ‘forward sold’ in terms of private wholly owned completions for FY27 against 48% this time last year. In terms of privately owned homes exchanged, the ratio for FY27 was only 38% against 48% a year ago.
A ‘solid’ performance in a tough market
For the year to June 2026, Barratt Redrow delivered 17,667 homes, 5% more than the previous year. Revenue was up 6.6% to £6.06 billion, due to a better average price and mix of completions.
Operating profit before the impact of Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) adjustments was roughly flat on FY25 at £598 million. The firm took £573 million of PPA in FY26 for the write-down of Redrow assets against £617 million in FY25.
Barratt Redrow FY26 results
| FY26 | FY25 | Change | |
| Completions | 17,667 | 16,826 | 5% |
| Revenue (£m) | 6.055 | 5,679 | 6.6% |
| Adj operating profit (£m)* | 598 | 594 | 0.6% |
| Adj pre-tax profit (£m)* | 573 | 616 | -7.1% |
| EPS (p)* | 28.5 | 32.1 | -11.8% |
Source: Company accounts
Note*: All figures are before the impact of PPA adjustments
Outgoing CEO David Thomas echoed comments by other business leaders calling for more support for first-time buyers. While reform of the planning system was welcome, said Thomas, by itself it wasn’t enough.
‘Removing barriers to home ownership and addressing the increasing regulatory and tax burdens which constrain our industry will drive housing supply, to tackle the housing crisis, create jobs and support economic growth’ added Thomas.
We aren’t surprised by today’s downgrade, although dressing it up as a response to planning delays and regulations is novel. Every firm in the sector is cutting its output to save cash and tailor its work in progress to demand.
The pop in the shares suggests to us the market was braced for an even bigger cut to FY27 completions. However, we wouldn’t chase the stock higher – there are far better opportunities elsewhere for now.
