Barratt Homes throws Government housing targets into doubt after saying it will build LESS

BARRATT HOMES has thrown Government housing targets into doubt after saying it will build fewer homes next year.

The firm’s profits tumbled by more than three-quarters to £170.5million in the year to the end of June after it built 3,000 fewer homes than the year before.

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Barratt Homes has thrown Government housing targets into doubt[/caption]

Barratt said it had completed 14,004 properties in the past year, 18 per cent less than the 17,206 it built in 2023.

Worse still, the FTSE 100 housebuilder warned the figure would drop to between 13,000 and 13,500 homes in this financial year.

Analysts at Quilter Cheviot said the lowered target was “the opposite direction of travel to what we’d expect”.

Shares in Barratt Homes yesterday fell by 4.5 per cent to 496.3p.

Barratt has blamed rocketing mortgage rates for destabilising the housing market, as many would-be buyers can no longer afford to move.

Mortgage rates more than trebled in the wake of the Liz Truss mini-Budget of September 2022 and kept rising as the Bank of England hiked interest rates to curb inflation.

Barratt chief executive David Thomas said demand continued to be “sensitive to mortgage affordability” and the company would be playing catch-up after pulling out of buying land for two years while the market was in turmoil.

He said: “We stepped out of the land market because we need to have some degree of confidence about what our rate of sale would be.”

Labour has set a target of building 350,000 new homes a year to tackle the UK’s housing crisis.

But Mr Thomas said: “For the last 40 years the highest house-building volume has been 200,000 to 260,000.”

The building boss admitted the Government target was positive because “we need something to aim for”.

However he added: “It’s clearly going to take a few years to get back to where we were on completion.”

First-time criers

THE average first-time buyer would have to save half their disposable income for NINE YEARS to afford a house deposit, The Sun can reveal.

The typical prospective buyer in their 20s has only £469 left each month after rent, council tax and energy bills, while the home they seek will be around £250,000.

The necessary deposit would be 442 per cent of their annual disposable income, which also has to cover food and transport among other expenses.

And after the Help to Buy scheme was scrapped, there is no Government support.

The Home Builders Federation, which carried out the study, said: “Home ownership is being pushed out of reach of many — particularly those without the support of family wealth.”

Onlyfans’ bank win

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Banks have been told by regulator the FSA to do more to provide Onlyfans stars with accounts[/caption]

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Onlyfans finance chief Lee Taylor said his account was frozen because he worked for the site[/caption]

BANKS have been told by regulator the FSA to do more to provide Onlyfans stars and those working in the adult entertainment sector with accounts.

It comes after OnlyFans’ boss Keily Blair and finance chief Lee Taylor said their accounts were frozen or declined because they worked for the site.

Ms Blair said: “For too long people have been discriminated against by banks for engaging in lawful work in the adult industry.”

Sarah Jayne Dunn, above, who was axed from Hollyoaks after she started her OnlyFans account, made £700,000 in one year on the site.

A Volvo no-no to EV go-go

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Volvo has watered down its EV targets amid slowing demand[/caption]

CAR giant Volvo has binned its target to sell only fully electric vehicles by 2030.

It is the latest motor firm after Ford and General Motors to water down EV targets amid slowing demand.

The Swedish company said that it would “allow for a limited number of mild hybrid models to be sold, if needed”.

Volvo Cars, majority-owned by China’s Geely, blamed a “slower than expected” rollout of charging infrastructure, the loss of government incentives in some markets and “additional uncertainties” created by recent tariffs.

The Labour Government has said it will ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and ramp up tariffs on non-EVs. But the industry has warned further incentives are needed for more to switch to costlier EVs.

Volvo Cars chief executive Jim Rowan said the “future is electric” but “customers and markets are moving at different speeds of adoption”.

Wine CEO on beers

THE boss of English wine firm Chapel Down is leaving next year to join Yorkshire brewer Timothy Taylor.

The Kent-based winemaker yesterday revealed Andrew Carter’s departure alongside a slump in half-year profits to £40,000 from £2.4million.

Shares dropped 13 per cent to value it at just £119million.

In June, the business said it was considering a selling up to fund more vineyards amid an English wine-making boom.

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NO decision has been taken on scrapping plans for a British ISA, Labour insisted last night, amid reports the Tory scheme was for the chop.

Its aim is to stimulate investment in UK firms but broker AJ Bell called it a “political gimmick that was doomed to fail”.