Housebuilder Barratt Developments moved to shrug off mounting signs of Brexit fears in the property market as it declared conditions remained solid with strong buyer demand.
Britain's largest housebuilder, which has developments across Scotland, said the new-build property market remained good and said it is focused on targets in the trading update ahead of its London AGM.
The FTSE 100 firm said it had traded well in the first 15 weeks of its new financial year, as shares went up 1.2 per cent to 511.4p, in contrast to a 12% drop earlier this month amid a painful global sell-off.
David Thomas, Barratt Developments chief executive, said: "The group has started the new financial year in a strong position, with a good sales rate, healthy forward order book and customer demand supported by an attractive lending environment.
"We are focused on delivering our medium term targets set out at our full year results, whilst maintaining our commitment to leading the industry in the design and quality of our homes and in customer service, which we believe is fundamental to our ongoing success."
Barratt's forward sales stood at £3.15 billion, or 12,903 properties as of October 14 - up 12.4% year-on-year.
Average weekly net private reservations per development had remained "strong".
It launched 53 new developments in the 15 week period, down from 62 a year earlier, but the housebuilder still expects outlet numbers to grow over the full year.
It said it intends to increase volumes by 3-5% per year.
Barratt said that "good progress is being made with the planned roll-out of the new product ranges and this will increasingly benefit margin going forward".
Robin Hardy, an analyst at Shore Capital, said while Barratt made "positive noises" on the market, its numbers showed "site numbers are lower and the sales rate has ticked down".
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