Barratt Developments’ £721m cash call has rescued Britain’s biggest house builder from the point of no return, the group said.

The proceeds of the placing and rights issue, which will mostly be used to bring Barratt’s net debt down from £1.3bn at the end of June to £700m after costs have been paid, should give the company the freedom to develop sites that it was otherwise too constrained to open.

An inability to develop new sites would have risked drying up the cash flow on which the business depends to continue investing.

Financial Times, The Times, Daily Telegraph