It hasn’t been a good period for housebuilding trading updates so far in 2026, and Taylor Wimpey added to the gloom on Thursday.
Taylor Wimpey has reported a 6% increase in total completions for 2025, delivering 11,229 homes across the group, including joint ventures, up from 10,593 in the previous year. But margins have been hit, and the outlook is soft.
The housebuilder completed 10,614 UK homes excluding joint ventures, representing a 6.4% rise from 9,972 completions in 2024. This figure came in at the middle of the company’s guidance range, with affordable homes accounting for 21% of total UK completions at 2,220 units.
The growth in completion came despite challenging market conditions in the second half of the year. “Uncertainty ahead of the late Autumn Budget impacted sales through the second half of 2025 and our order book coming into 2026,” the company stated.
Revenue increased to approximately £3.8 billion from £3.4 billion, driven by higher volumes and average selling prices. The UK average selling price on private completions rose to £374,000 from £356,000 in 2024.
However, operating profit margin compressed to around 11% from 12.2% in the prior year, partly offset by strong land sales which contributed a 60 basis point enhancement to margins.
“The only hiccup in today’s results was the outlook for 2026, where the company expects profit margins to be lower than the prior year,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Lower pricing on its bulk deals is largely to blame, alongside low single-digit build-cost inflation. As a result, performance is likely to be more heavily weighted towards the second half than usual. While that’s not what investors were hoping for, the balance sheet remains in a great place, arguably one of the strongest in the sector.”
Taylor Wimpey expanded its outlet network to 219 sites by year-end, up from 213 at the end of 2024, as part of its growth strategy. The company reported increasing momentum in planning determinations during the final quarter, benefiting from changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.