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LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Bovis Homes reported a large jump in first-half reservations andsales, helped by government schemes that have boosted home buyersentiment, and said it expected to post a strong increase inhousing profit.
The 128-year-old housebuilder, which has focused on buildingin more affluent regions in the south of England in recentyears, said on Monday it achived 1,389 net private reservationsin the first six months, a 40 percent increase on the sameperiod a year ago.
Its net private sales rate per site per week rose by 26percent to 0.59 compared to the same period last year. In thesecond quarter, after the government launched plans to supportstruggling home buyers with billions of pounds in loans, thesales rate was 60 percent higher than the prior year, it said.
Bovis said it completed 963 homes in the first half, withthe average sales price rising by 15 percent to 188,500 pounds($280,500) primarily due to its strategy of building morelucrative family homes rather than city centre flats.
"The positive compound effect of increasing volume, thestrong increase in the average sales price and the improvingprofit margin will lead to a strong increase in housing profitin the half year compared to the first half of last year," itsaid.
Bovis's remarks echoes that of other larger housebuildersPersimmon and Taylor Wimpey who last week uppedprofit margin forecasts and said they were experiencing anuplift in buyer demand as a result of government schemes.
Bovis said it continues to buy high quality consented landand added 2,767 consented plots on 18 sites in the first half onwhich it expects to deliver a return on capital of more than 20percent. Bovis said it was also in talks to buy another 1,018plots on 11 sites.
Shares in Bovis closed at 775 pence on Friday, valuing thecompany at about 1 billion pounds.
