The UK’s biggest housebuilder has stopped hiring new staff as it revealed housing completions over the current financial year could fall by as much as 11% if the current housing market weakness doesn’t recover in the months ahead.

In a first half trading update today, Barratt Developments said the volume of completions could fall as low as 16,000 in the financial year to June 30, compared to 17,908 completions last year, if current trends continue – despite having entered the year with £3.62bn-worth of homes pre-sold.

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