Another housebuilder update, another positive set of numbers. Growth continues inrespective of economic instability and changes to taxation on house purchases.
And yet the housing industry still has a way to go until it reaches optimal efficiency.
Why? Because builders are in the enviable position of not yet being able to build the number of houses required to meet the chronic housing shortage.
In fact Edinburgh-based Cala Group is so confident in the market that it has upped its long-range target from 2,500 homes per year to 3,000.
And this is at the high-end of the market, where the average selling price is £500,000 – enough to push revenue to £1.5 billion if prices remain stable.
Curiously, while the company expects to pass the 2,500 milestone in 2020, no date has been put on the wider 3,000 target. That it has been set at all highlights the bullish mood of the company however.
And no wonder. Cala does not break out numbers for its Scottish divisions – in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – but by all accounts business is booming north of the Border as the company delivered an overall increase of 34 per cent in completions.
Most noteworthy is the return of investment to the north east, with chief executive Alan Brown declaring challenges in the area following the nosedive in oil prices from the 2014 peak are now in the past.
With a £150m Building Scotland Fund being pledged by Finance Secretary Derek McKay to accelerate housing and infrastructure projects, the housing market in Scotland looks set for further growth as builders hungrily take on the challenge of meeting unprecedented demand.
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