Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) said it remained confident about full year trading figures, after reporting an increase in first half profit.

First half pretax profit rose to £301 million, up from £205 million in the same period last year, with the housing market remaining strong and sending the UK private average selling price up to £295,000, from £287,000 in 2017.

The group declared an interim dividend of 2.44p per share, up 6.1 percent on-year, adding that it would also pay a special dividend of around 10.7p per share in 2019.

“As employment prospects remain positive and mortgage availability is good, customer demand for our homes has been strong in spite of some wider macroeconomic uncertainty,” chief executive Pete Redfern said.

“With a strong order book in place, we are confident in our prospects for the remainder of the year and looking further ahead.”

Shares in Taylor Wimpey are currently up 0.005 percent at 172.14 (0922GMT).