For instance, interim results from East London housebuilder Telford Homes (TEF:319p) a few weeks ago revealed the company now has £700m of forward sales, up by more than a fifth since April, and a better than expected launch of its new City North development in Finsbury Park, North London post the half-year end. Forward sales now account for half the £1.4bn sales pipeline of over 4,000 homes, so offering substance to the board’s target of delivering a 50 per cent plus hike in annual pre-tax profits to more than £50m by March 2019, and doubling the size of the business over the next five years.
To do so the company will clearly have to maintain sales momentum so it’s interesting to note that Telford raked in over £43m of sales by selling a fifth of the 355 units at the City North development at an off-plan launch over just three weekends in November, highlighting the point that there is strong demand for new build property in the Capital even if house price growth has moderated this year, and at the super prime end gone into reverse. It also means that over £110m of open market revenue has been secured at the development even though it will not complete until 2020. The average sales price equates to £860 per sq ft, right at the top end of the company’s targeted £500 to £900 per sq ft range for properties in London.