Shares in the UK’s biggest housebuilder have dropped sharply after it said sales of new homes have slumped in recent weeks amid the deepening economic uncertainty in the wake of the mini budget.

Barratt saw its share price drop more than 8% at one point as investors digested a trading update from the business in which it said reservations per site per week since the start of September were running at just over half the level of a year ago.

Barratt said reservations per site per week since the publication of its results on August 28 had dropped to 0.48, which is 47% down on the 0.90 recorded in the same period in 2021.

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