Bovis Homes today became the latest housebuilder to warn that the recent decline in consumer confidence has led to a fall in completions and forward sales.
The housebuilder completed 2,930 homes in 2007, 6% lower than the 3,123 in 2006.
Forward sales last year were 19% lower than the previous year at 816 reservations, reflecting the slowdown in activity in the second half.
It said the average sales price fell to £179,400 from £183,700 but added that pretax profits for 2007 would be ‘broadly in line’ with analysts' forecasts.
Rivals Persimmon and Redrow earlier this week confirmed volumes had been hit as the credit crunch hurt consumer sentiment, while Bellway today said it expected its completions for the six months to 31 January to be at a similar level to the 3,264 homes completed the previous year.
Property website operator Rightmove today said its pretax profits for 2007 would be towards the top end of analysts' expectations of between £29.3m and £32.2m.
It said revenue would rise around 69% to around £56.7m after monthly subscription prices were increased by 30% to £325 to around 7,000 estate agents between August 2007 and January 2008.
Rightmove earns subscription fees from its customers such as estate agents, rental agents and new home developers in exchange for allowing them to advertise properties, new developments and rental properties.
