It might not have felt like it at the time, but 2021 was actually a good year to be a housebuilder. That’s not to say it was easy – but the numbers in this year’s Housing Today Top 50 Housebuilders tables, compiled to the most recent published results of the UK’s biggest private residential developers, tell a pretty simple story.

Housebuilders in the top 50 saw their turnover increase by an average of more than 25%, taking revenue well above pre-pandemic levels, with operating profit across the firms increasing even faster, by a third. Operating margins, which rose to 11.7% on average, were close to the levels seen pre-covid.

Of course, given the mini-Budget turmoil and new chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s subsequent fiscal statement, this all feels like a long time ago. Developers now face very different challenges to the ones posed in the period covered by these accounts – the most recent of which run to July this year. Since September 23, sales rates at major housebuilders have slumped by between 40% and 50% as the cost of mortgages has soared, and big questions are being asked about what 2023 will hold for the sector.

Here, Housing Today looks back at the industry’s stellar performance, and asks what the data says about which firms are best placed to face the coming storm.

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