Barratt Redrow, the UK's largest housebuilder, has kept its guidance for the year to June 2027 unchanged, but warned that the market remains difficult as affordability pressure weighs on buyers.
Its guidance points to around 17,700 completions at the midpoint, including about 600 from joint ventures.
It is too early to judge whether the Government's new Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers will lift demand this year.
Management is focusing on cutting costs, being disciplined about land buying and keeping tight control of building work in progress.
The underlying private reservation rate, which measures weekly sales per site, fell to 0.53 in the 17 weeks to 25 October, from 0.57 a year earlier.
Bulk sales to the private rental sector, where investors buy homes to let, added 0.06, lifting the total rate to 0.59.
That took private reservations, including joint ventures, to 243 a week from 228.
Completions fell 12.1% to 3,223 homes.
The forward order book, covering homes sold but not yet handed over, rose 1% to £3.32 billion, or 11,086 homes.
The number of homes in the order book was up 3.9%, while its value rose more slowly, reflecting a higher share of cheaper multi-unit sales.
Barratt Redrow is 56% forward sold on private completions for the year, down from 60% at the same point last year.
Of those, 62% have already completed or exchanged, against 64% a year ago.
The group sold from an average of 396 outlets, excluding joint ventures, up from 392.
Chief executive Dean Banks, who joined two months ago, said trading had been "resilient against a backdrop of challenging market conditions".
He said softer underlying sales had been offset by stronger demand from the private rental sector.
Banks welcomed the Your First Home scheme, saying that alongside planning reform it could boost housebuilding over time.
The group holds its annual meeting today and will report interim results on 17 February 2027.
