Taylor Wimpey on track but mindful of consumer uncertainty

(Sharecast News) - Taylor Wimpey has reiterated its guidance for 2025 after a "robust" sales performance over the third quarter, but said it was mindful of various issues currently affecting customer sentiment, such as the impact of the delayed autumn budget. The housebuilder remains on track to complete 10,400 to 10,800 completions in the UK (excluding joint ventures) this year, and expects to hit its operating profit target of £424m.

The guidance, which was lowered by £20m in July due to an unexpected one-off charge associated with historical defective workmanship by a principal contractor, still represents a slight improvement on the £416.2m earned in 2024.

In the face of continued "softer market conditions" which began in the second quarter, Taylor Wimpey said that its net private sales rate slipped to 0.65 per outlet per week, slightly below the 0.70 rate the year before.

Despite the dip, the average sales rate so far this year still was still 0.74, up from 0.72 the year before.

The builder's total order book value was more or less flat at £2.12bn by 28 September, compared with £2.15bn by the same point in 2024, with 73% of the 7,223 homes planned now exchanged.

"While mindful of the various issues impacting customer sentiment and propensity to buy homes, including the impact of the delayed UK Budget on short term customer confidence, we remain well positioned and own all land with planning for 2026 completions," the company said.

The update came as Taylor Wimpey hosted an event for institutional investors and analysts, outlining how it expects to deliver 14,000 UK completions and an operating profit margin of 16-18% over the medium term.

"Growth will be driven by higher outlet numbers, without the need for net land investment as we unlock the value of our strong, existing landbank and reinvest in smaller sites," the company said.

"Operating profit margins will benefit from operating leverage as volumes grow and with the evolution of the landbank as we cycle into newly purchased land which benefits from improved margins."