Taylor Wimpey has hailed an "excellent summer selling season" and predicted a sharp improvement on its full-year profit margins.

The nation's second largest house builder reported sales volumes for the year to date had increased 15 per cent, and its total order book now stands at £2.1 billion - £400 million higher than a year ago.

Chief executive Pete Redfern said growth was being driven by high customer confidence and demand underpinned by rising real wages and good access to a wide range of mortgage products.

"Against this backdrop, we are reporting record order book levels and expect to deliver an improvement in operating profit margin of over 200 basis points in 2015 and a return on net operating assets of over 25 per cent," he said.

"As we look forward, we are particularly pleased to see that the tighter lending requirements are helping to ensure that monthly payments remain affordable and sustainable, which contributes towards a healthy outlook for both homebuyers and homebuilders."

The firm revealed it was fully sold for its targeted 2015 completions and around 27 per cent forward sold for its expected 2016 private completions.

It added that net cash at the end of 2015 would be around £220m, almost double the £113m seen at the same stage last year.

Shares in the firm were up 0.8 per cent in early trading.

Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Keith Bowman said: "In line with the broader sector, Taylor Wimpey has flagged ongoing robust trading. A record order book has been achieved, with a further expansion in the group's operating profit margin forecast.

"An impressive jump in second half sales rates has been reported, whilst over a quarter of 2016 private completions have already been sold. Sales price growth is outpacing rising build costs, while ongoing cash generation is fuelling a continued shareholder cash return programme.

"In all, the update reflects still highly solid consumer demand for new housing. Rising real wages and high competition in the mortgage product market are playing their part, while both Government and Bank of England policy remain highly supportive.

"On balance, and despite some valuation concerns - Taylor Wimpey shares are up around 40 per cent over the last year - today's update is highly reassuring, with analyst consensus opinion for a buy unlikely to change."