Focus on private homes paying off for Gleeson

The house builder and land investor, MJ Gleeson, has seen a significant uptick in the number of homes being sold while demand for its land remains strong in the south of England.

In a trading statement covering the 12 months to the end of June the company revealed its building division had sold 258 private development homes during the year, an increase of 52% compared with the previous year's total of 170.

With the inclusion of units sold to housing associations, the total for the year is 279 homes, compared to 286 in the previous year. Gleeson says the reduction in sales to housing associations is due to the focus on more profitable private development sales.

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The firm currently has an order book of £10.8m (2011: £9.1m), an improvement of 18%, representing 89 homes, which are all expected to be completed in the next twelve months.

Gleeson Strategic Land, which buys options on land, says demand for greenfield residential plots in the south of England from the major housebuilders is strong; during the year it disposed of five sites, with a combined acreage of 115 acres.

At 9am the stock had gained 3%.

BS