House builder Berkeley Group saw shares rise nearly 4 percent on Friday, despite being hit by a 20 percent fall in demand in the wake of the June referendum.
The group posted a 24 percent rise in pre-tax profit to £393 million for the first half, with Chief Executive Rob Perrins saying it was in a strong position to tackle uncertainty. However, he urged the government to clarify their position on Brexit as soon as possible, telling Reuters:
“We put a plan forward to build our homes but if you create conditions that are so uncertain or you create a downturn, then that will really cause us to build less homes.”
Berkeley operate largely in London and the South East, areas which have seen a larger fall-out from Brexit. Reservations fell 20 percent in the six months to the end of October, but houses were sold at an average price of £655,000, a 29 percent increase on last year.
Mr Perrins added: “This fall in volume is due to higher stamp duty, the extraordinary attack on buy to let landlords – such an important part of sustaining the London market and increasing the supply of new homes – and the uncertainty caused by Brexit.”
There has been weakness across the housing sector in the wake of the referendum result, with national housebuilder Barratt announcing plans to cut the prices of its top-end homes by up 10 ten percent after a rapid drop in demand.
In a statement, Mr Perrins agreed that the housing sector was facing “heightened global macro-economic and political uncertainty” both from the Brexit vote and the US election.
Shares in Berkeley have fallen more than a fifth since June’s referendum. The group’s shares are currently trading up 3.77 percent at 2,641.00 (1013GMT) as investors react positively to the announcement of a share buy-back programme.