EASIER access to mortgages and stronger demand have helped push the average selling price for Taylor Wimpey homes in Scotland up by five per cent in the second half of the year against the same period last year.
The housebuilder said the rise to an average price of £224,000 comes as more people are seeking to buy homes and are better able to do so in a more favourable lending climate.
The firm, which has 27 sites across Scotland, said total completions for the period increased 2% at 902, up from 882 in the same period last year.
A spokesman for the company said: "The market in Scotland has been positive during the second half of 2018, with good customer demand and a supportive lending environment driving an increase in completions for the period."
The company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange that the UK housing market has remained stable through the second half of 2018, despite the wider political and economic uncertainty.
Read more: UK construction sector growth at weakest in six months and civil engineering declines
It said customer demand for new build homes continues to be robust, underpinned by low interest rates and a wide choice of mortgage deals.
Sales rates for the year to date have stayed level with last year.
The company, which finished the day on the stock exchange 1% up at 164p, said it expects to end the year with a net cash balance of around £600 million, against £512m last year.
Its current total order book is 9,783 homes, which is 12% above last year when it was 8,751, and it is worth about £2.4 billion, up by 9% from £2.2bn last year.
The company said in its statement: "This is at the upper end of our expectations at this stage, and we would expect this to reduce naturally towards the end of the year as more homes complete."
Read more: Glasgow Harbour to get share of £30m Taylor Wimpey fund after Grenfell review
Pete Redfern, Taylor Wimpey chief executive, said there is a watchful eye on Brexit but that the company's order book is healthy.
He added: "We have delivered a strong performance during the second half of 2018, with very good sales rates supported by positive customer demand and a supportive lending environment.
"This builds on our strong forward order book and puts us on track to meet full year expectations.
"Looking ahead to 2019, we remain mindful of wider political and economic risks and the potential impact on customer confidence.
"However, with a strong balance sheet in place and a high-quality landbank, our business is well positioned to deliver further sustainable growth and cash flow over the medium term.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here