HOUSEBUILDER Redrow has reported rising orders and prices, despite a more "traditional" autumn housing market.

Its order book lifted by 10 per cent to £465 million in the first 19 weeks of its financial year, with average selling prices up four per cent at £284,000 due to a better geographical mix and some house price inflation.

Its sales rate per outlet per week for its regional businesses has fallen to 0.65, compared to "the abnormally high rate" of 0.87 in summer 2013 following the start of the Government's Help to Buy scheme.

Chairman Steve Morgan, who founded the business 40 years ago and also owns Wolverhampton Wanderers football club, said: "The high demand for new homes generated by the launch of the Government's Help to Buy scheme in 2013 has, this summer, reverted to a more normal level of activity."

The FTSE 250 firm said that since the start of its financial year it had added 1,500 plots across 14 sites, taking its land bank to 16,914 plots.