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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/barratt-hails-upturn-in-trading.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Barratt Developments has announced a sharp reduction in losses" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-barratt-hails-upturn-in-trading.jpg" alt="Barratt Developments has announced a sharp reduction in losses"/></a></p>
<p>Housebuilder Barratt Developments has revealed a sharp reduction in losses and hailed a significant pick-up in trading in 2011.</p>
<p>Barratt&#8217;s focus on selling more family houses rather than flats ensured the average price achieved on sales rose by 5.7% to £175,800 in the second half of 2010 as it bucked the trend of a declining housing market.</p>
<p>The price rise and ongoing efficiency savings helped Barratt&#8217;s profit margin jump from 0.6% to 5% and lifted its operating surplus to £43.5 million from £5.2 million a year earlier. </p>
<p>Bottom-line losses were £4.6 million, compared to £178.4 million the previous year, when the company incurred one-off charges due to restructuring costs and amended financing arrangements.</p>
<p>Barratt, which is the UK&#8217;s biggest housebuilder by volume, said it had made &#8220;a good start to 2011 with a significant pick-up in trading since the depressed autumn selling period&#8221;, which was affected by the uncertainty surrounding the Government&#8217;s Comprehensive Spending Review.</p>
<p>The number of reservations per site a week increased to 0.57 over the past six weeks, up from 0.39 in the final half of 2010, although some of the increase may be due to a bounce back from the disruption caused by the snow in December.</p>
<p>Underlying house prices have remained stable in 2011 and Barratt expects its average selling price to increase further as it pushes larger family homes and reduces its exposure to flats as first-time buyers struggle to get mortgages.</p>
<p>The number of completed sales in the period declined 4% to 4,832, as Barratt focused on higher selling prices rather than chasing volumes.</p>
<p>Barratt, whose shares were up 1% following the announcement, agreed terms to buy £318 million of land &#8211; enough to build 6,078 homes &#8211; which it expects to deliver attractive margins at current market rates.</p>
<p>Chief executive Mark Clare said: &#8220;We expect to see further operating margin growth in our second half as we continue to optimise prices, reduce costs and open new higher margin sites from recently acquired land.&#8221;</p>
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