UK's Barratt Redrow misses home completion target, warns of 'fragile' buyer confidence
Britain
's largest homebuilder
Barratt Redrow
on Tuesday missed its annual forecast for home completions and warned confidence among buyers remained "fragile", sending its shares down almost 13%.
The group announced 16,565 home completions for the year ended June 29, below its forecast of 16,800 to 17,200, chiefly due to delays in transferring ownership to international customers and to the private rented sector in
London
.
Completions involve homes that have been built and the official transfer of ownership to the buyer.
London has been a weak spot for Barratt Redrow in the past year as completions and margins have been weaker than in its regional business.
Britain's faltering economy is weighing on consumer confidence and tempering housing demand, overshadowing a gradual decline in interest rates and government incentives that have recently offered some optimism.
The slow roll-out of reforms to enhance safety and modernise the housing sector has also hampered delivery targets for builders, including Barratt Redrow, which expects its average number of sales outlets to be broadly flat in fiscal 2026.
High-end homebuilder
Berkeley
, which has a strong London presence, in June cut its profit expectations for the next two years, blaming market and regulatory pressures.
"Homebuyer confidence remains fragile," Barratt Redrow said in a trading statement, echoing concerns around affordability raised by rivals including Persimmon and Vistry .
While government support could help demand, particularly in high-cost areas like London and South East England, Barratt Redrow is leaning on incentives like topping up deposits to support buyers, CEO David Thomas said during an analyst call.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed company hit their lowest since October 2022 on Tuesday, and pulled the broader housing index down 4.7%.
Barratt Redrow, formed after the merger of the two eponymous companies last year, said it expected fiscal 2025 adjusted profit before tax and charges to be in line with analysts' consensus forecast of 582.6 million pounds ($783.1 million).
For fiscal 2026, it expects home completions to rise to between 17,200 and 17,800.
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At dusk in Napa, under stars in Rioja, on sun-dappled afternoons in Burgundy, she disappeared into the rhythm of the land, the people, the wines. Every bottle, every vineyard, every vintage revealed itself as singular as every human being. Just as no two wines are quite alike, no two people, no two callings ever quite overlap. She kept coming back, each time discovering wine could be bigger, bolder, more daring than before. She began to see herself in its evolution—from grape to glass, from shy student to Master of Wine. That title—awarded by the Institute of Masters of Wine in the UK—is the highest honor in the field, earned by fewer than 425 people worldwide. India has only one. Sonal. She carved her name into that list through sheer will and love for her craft. She is one in a billion. Not just because her daughter called her that, but because it is true. One quiet morning, her daughter walked up to her, with the simple, unselfconscious wisdom only children possess. Her father had suggested she congratulate her mother. And so he said it plainly: 'Mom, you're one in a billion.' The words struck Sonal like a cork popping loose. A phrase as intimate as it was immense. A toast, a benediction, a mirror held up to her struggle and triumph. And in that instant the title of her memoir was born. One in a Billion. Because the story isn't just hers. It's for the wine aficionado tracing the scent of oak through a labyrinth of glasses. For the wanderer who longs to take a surreal journey through life's intent and its wild, inexplicable reality. For anyone standing at the edge of their own crisis, staring down who they are, what they could become, what new chapter they still have the courage to write. Her memoir is for them. For all of us. Because Sonal's story is also a story of what it means to believe you are not one of many, but one in a billion. Every page is a lesson—not in the way of chalkboards and lectures, but a lesson you sip, swirl, let linger. 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The daughter beamed, saying she loves her mum; the mum, adoring her daughter. And you realise: life, like wine, is not meant to be perfect. It is meant to be poured, shared, savored. And in that, Sonal Holland reminds us: there is always magic to be found. Always another bottle to open, another chapter to write. Always, if you dare to believe it, another chance to be one in a billion.
