Confidence among house buyers continued to be depressed throughout autumn, low cost housebuilder MJ Gleeson has said.
The Sheffield-based developer told investors that a “lack of conviction in the market continued through the autumn” but that it hoped the Bank of England’s decision to lower the base rate last week would boost buyer confidence going into the key spring selling season.
Ahead of the firm’s annual general meeting, Gleeson bosses said net reservation rates for the period between the beginning of July and the beginning of November increased 0.56 per site, per week. That was up from 0.45 per site during the same period of 2023.
They said a programme of new site openings was now under way, with seven already launched during the current 2025 financial year. It expects to open a total of 27 sales sites in that period, a marked increased on the four opened in its 2024 financial year, but noted that it will be selling on a lower average number of sites overall compared with last year.
Beyond this year, Gleeson hopes to open a net 10 new sales sites per year. It said: “As the wider market improves, we remain confident in Gleeson Homes’ ability to fulfil this ambitious programme of site openings which will drive the exciting sector-leading growth planned for FY2026 and beyond.”
But bosses noted that more use of sales incentives, in the face of lower confidence, had put pressure on margins, as had the impact of multi-unit sales, inflated building costs and only “limited relief” from increased selling prices.
Across its land division, Gleeson said it was promoting “several exciting opportunities” and that the prospect of Government reform to the National Planning Policy Framework is expected to benefit the timing of some of its sites. It noted strong demand for land with permissions from large and medium-sized developers – spurring confidence that the division will deliver full year results ahead of last year.
The wider housing market showed signs of strengthening in October, according to research from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Surveyors said buyer activity was picking up with a net balance of 16% of property professionals reporting house prices rising rather than falling.
Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South West of England were the only parts of the UK where property professionals reported seeing prices fall overall.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
