Berkeley has seen a dip in profit and sales reservations in its half-year results, but remains on track to meet its guidance.
For the six months to the 31 October, Berkeley reported a pre-tax profit of £254million, 7.7% lower than the previous year. Meanwhile, its sales ended the period around 4% lower year-on-year.
During the period, Berkeley delivered 2,022, as well as 82 through joint venture, 89% of which were on brownfield land. This represents a decrease year-on-year, where the developer delivered 2,103 homes and 177 through joint venture.
Rob Perrins, executive chair of Berkeley, described the housebuilder’s performance during the period as “highly creditable” in a “very challenging macro-economic and regulatory environment”.
The trading update says that Berkeley remains on track to meet its pre-tax profit guidance of £450million for the year, and achieve a similar level in FY27, as well as its target for a strong net cash position.
Perrins also said that the developer’s 10-year Berkeley 2035 strategy provides the housebuilder with the “agility to navigate near-term headwinds while focusing on the drivers of long-term value from our well-located land holdings to deliver returns to shareholders over the cycle through share buy-backs and dividends.”
This includes the delivery of new homes in its core business, disciplined cost and balance sheet control, and an investment of over £1billion into the Berkeley Living Build-to-Rent portfolio.
Berkeley also welcomed the government’s recent drive to increase housing delivery and growth, calling the continued focus on supply as “absolutely key” to achieving London’s annual housing target of 88,000 new homes.
Perrins said: There have been a number of significant policy initiatives in the period of which we are very supportive. These include the Homes for London package launched by MHCLG and the GLA to help restore development viability and increase affordable and private housing delivery in the capital, alongside the recently announced 2026-2036 Affordable Homes Programme. The impact of these measures, and the extent to which they result in Berkeley and other developers moving more homes into production, will depend on the speed, scale and duration of implementation.”
However, the Berkeley executive chair said that “it should be recognised that since 2014 successive governments have seen property ownership as a source of increased revenue and that, coupled with higher corporate and development taxes, this has constrained investment in the delivery of new homes.”
