So a lot for ‘construct, child, construct’: Barratt Redrow warns political uncertainty is holding again housing improvement as Starmer staggers on

Political uncertainty is denting demand for new homes, according to one of Britain’s biggest builders.

As speculation mounts over the future of Keir Starmer, Barratt Redrow boss David Thomas sounded the alarm over the impact of the Chancellor’s Spring statement in early March and the local elections in May.

These follow what he described as a ‘later than usual’ Budget on November 26 that ‘created an extended period of significant uncertainty for homebuyers’.

The comments came as Starmer clings on to his job at No 10 – at least for now – with the local elections in May seen as the moment he could be replaced.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves on a construction site in Nottingham

Business leaders have warned against a damaging lurch to the Left under a new Labour leader, such as Angela Rayner or Andy Burnham, with the bosses of Barclays and Natwest this week calling for ‘stability’ amid the turmoil in Westminster.

The update from Barratt will fuel fears that Labour will miss its target of overseeing the construction of 1.5million new homes over the course of this Parliament – some 300,000 a year.

Housing secretary Steve Reed has promised that the country will ‘build, baby, build’.

But warning that the housing market has already endured a period when ‘consumer confidence remained low’ and ‘economic and political uncertainty was high’, Thomas voiced concerns over the coming months.

He said the company’s performance for the 12 months to the end of June ‘remains dependent on sales activity through the Spring selling season, as well as any impacts from both the Spring statement and political uncertainty or volatility created by the local elections in May’.

Against this backdrop, Barratt posted a 13.3 per cent slump in profits to £199.9million for the half-year to December 28 and cut its interim dividend from 5.5p a share to 5p.

Shares in the firm, created by Barratt’s £2.5billion takeover of Redrow in 2024, fell as much as 8.4 per cent.

The firm completed the sale of 7,444 new homes in the six-month period, up 4.7 per cent on a year earlier with the average selling price rising 5.2 per cent to £392,900.

‘Whilst subdued, the trading backdrop was stable during the period with a less volatile mortgage lending environment supporting customer demand,’ noted Thomas.

He added that business ‘benefited as customers decided to complete ahead of Christmas once Budget uncertainty was removed’.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: ‘Along with its peers, Barratts suffered an extended period of uncertainty from buyers ahead of the Budget, although once this hurdle was overcome, many customers then decided to complete before the end of the calendar year.

‘Even so, the currently unstable political environment continues to weigh on consumer confidence, while affordability concerns remain in sharp focus particularly for first-time buyers.’