Taylor Wimpey Share News (TW.)

- Government measures boost demand- Housing markets remains 'healthy'- Company confident of hitting full-year targetsHousebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it is 'well positioned in an improving market' as sales rates were boosted by rising consumer confidence and government stimulus measures in the third quarter. Chief Executive Pete Redfern said that the UK housing market has remained "healthy" since end of the first half with better mortgage availability and consistent demand for homes leading to a year-on-year increase in sales rates."Help to Buy continues to prove popular and we are seeing our customers from Edinburgh to Exeter using the scheme to get onto or move up the housing ladder," he said.It has worked with 2,403 households through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, with a further 207 currently going through the qualification process."Whilst it has less of a direct impact on our business, we welcome Help to Buy Phase Two and believe that this will also have a positive impact on the wider housing market," the firm said.The company said it has seen a "normal up-tick in autumn demand", helping the average net private reservation rate rise to 0.65 sales per outlet per week in the year-to-date, up from 0.57 the year before.Taylor Wimpey is now fully sold for its targeted 2013 completions and is over 30% forward sold for 2014 with the current order book standing at 7,557 homes, up from 6,662 at the same time last year.The firm said it is "confident of delivering on our full-year expectations, and demonstrating further improvement in the quality of our returns, which remains our key focus".BC