Vistry boosts sales rate but says activity with housing association partners ‘low’

Vistry has reported accelerated open market sales activity in the past two months, following a slow start to the year.

The £4.3bn-turnover housebuilder’s sales per outlet per week in 2025 to date is 0.91, up from 0.59 in the first three months.

Its sales rate in the last eight weeks has averaged 1.32, up from 1.17 on the same period last year.

It said: “In the open market, we have seen an improvement in our sales rate over the past eight weeks and we expect this trend to continue. Mortgage availability and affordability is improving, with lenders increasing their product range and borrowing rates reducing ahead of further expected cuts to the Bank of England base rate.”

However, the group said as expected its ‘partner-funded’ activity – meaning homes funded by housing associations, local authorities, or build-to-rent investors – remains subdued.

It said: “As expected, in the year to date, partner-funded transaction activity has continued to be at a relatively low level, reflecting investment constraints among some of our registered provider partners ahead of the new affordable homes funding becoming available.” It said it expects partner-funded volumes to be at a similar level in 2025 overall to 2024. In 2024 it completed 12,633 partner-funded homes.

Vistry said it is well-positioned though to work with partners to identify opportunities to secure funding through the government’s £2bn top-up of the Affordable Homes Programme announced in March.

It said: “We are expecting greater clarity around the allocation of this funding following the Spending Review in June, and for this to drive a step up in demand from our affordable housing partners in the second half of the year.”

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Vistry said it expects to increase profit on last year’s figure, with a significant weighting towards the second half of 2025.

In 2024 it reported pre-tax profit of £104.9m, a drop of 64% on the £293m reported the previous year, as it dealt with the fallout from widely publicised cost forecasting errors.

Vistry said it is seeing “upward pressure” on material and labour prices which it is mitigating “through proactive engagement” with its sub-contractors and suppliers.

It secured 1,672 plots in the year, down on 6,037 in the same period last year. Vistry said it is targeting a reduction in the length of its owned landbank in the medium term as part of its continuing shift to a partnerships model.