UK’s Bellway, Crest Nicholson bet on home prices to offset higher costs

(Reuters) -British homebuilders Bellway and Crest Nicholson Holdings said on Tuesday upbeat house prices spurred by strong demand will continue to offset higher costs, brushing aside any slowdown concerns in the housing market.

UK house prices have continued to rise, underpinning the booming demand for new homes in an undersupplied market, although the pace of growth has slowed in recent months.

Some industry analysts had expected the market to cool as surging costs of everything from fuel to home appliances put pressure on household finances, while prices of key raw materials including steel have jumped following the Ukraine conflict.

Bellway expects its annual housing volumes to grow 10% to more than 11,100 homes, compared with 10,138 units last year, while the company’s current order book jumped 27.3% to 2.40 billion pounds ($2.92 billion).

Crest Nicholson forecast fiscal year 2022 adjusted profit before tax to be between 135 million pounds and 140 million pounds. The company reported an adjusted profit of 107.2 million pounds in 2021.

Crest Nicholson in March became the first listed British homebuilder to flag a potential increase in input costs due to the Ukraine conflict.

($1 = 0.8211 pounds)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shounak Dasgupta)