Taylor Wimpey on Wednesday signalled a more cautious near-term outlook after a quieter-than-anticipated autumn selling season. The housebuilder said it now anticipates full-year adjusted operating profit - including joint ventures and excluding one-off items - to be at the lower end of the consensus range compiled by the company on Nov. 6, which stands at to however the company said the range equates to million to million.
In a statement, chief executive Jennie Daly said: "The Autumn selling season has been more subdued, as higher mortgage rates and living costs continue to reduce customer affordability."
The group reported that net private sales per outlet per week between June 29 and Nov. 8 were 0.60, down from 0.63 a year earlier. When bulk deals are excluded, the comparable rate fell to 0.54 from 0.61 in the prior year. The cancellation rate in that period remained unchanged at 17%.
Looking at the year to date, net private sales per outlet per week were 0.69, compared with 0.72 a year earlier. Excluding bulk deals, the year-to-date rate was 0.62 versus 0.68 a year earlier. The cancellation rate for the year to date was 15%, down from 16%.
The company's order book, excluding joint ventures, was 6,839 homes valued at about around billion on Nov. 8, down from 7,253 homes worth roughly billion a year earlier.
Prices continued to soften slightly during the period, and incentives offered to buyers remained elevated, the company said. Taylor Wimpey reiterated its expectation that build costs will increase by 3-4% in 2026 and said it is pursuing further reductions in costs.
Operationally, Taylor Wimpey ran 225 outlets, an increase of around 9% from 206 a year earlier, having opened 59 new outlets versus 51 in the prior year. Year-to-date it averaged 220 outlets compared with 208 a year earlier, and it said it expects to open more outlets in 2026 than it did in 2025.
On land and pipeline metrics, the business approved around 5,000 plots year to date, unchanged from the prior year. Its short-term landbank decreased to about 73,000 plots at the end of October from roughly 75,000 on June 28. Conversions from the strategic pipeline rose to around 5,000 plots from about 2,000, while the wider pipeline stood at 131,000 potential plots compared with about 132,000 on June 28.
On capital allocation, Taylor Wimpey said it still expects to finish the year with approximately around million in net cash, subject to the timing of land purchases, after returning about around million to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and share buybacks.
As of Nov. 6, the group had repurchased around 39 million shares for approximately for about approximately million under a planned million buyback, which it expects to complete by Dec. 31.
Finally, the company said it welcomed the government's Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers and is awaiting further information on funding allocation and implementation.
Note on figures - All figures and forward-looking expectations are those reported by the company and relate to the periods and dates stated in the company's announcement.