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LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey and London estate agent Foxtons said activity inthe property market had stepped up since May's nationalelection, with buyers' confidence boosted by sustainable levelsof price inflation and low mortgage rates.
Taylor Wimpey's Chief Executive Peter Redfern said thatalthough the market had not been as disrupted by the election ashe expected, activity had picked up in after May 7.
"Even before the election it was more stable and morepositive than we'd expected," he said on Wednesday.
"After the election that positivity has stepped up and oursales rates are about 10 percent up on last year."
He said the market was underpinned by price inflation of 3-4percent, which he said felt more balanced and sustainable thanlevels of 10 percent seen a year or so ago.
The British company said it would return more cash toshareholders after pretax profit rose by a third to 238 millionpounds ($371.97 million) in the first half, and it said its landbank was big enough to sustain its ambition of building around14,000 homes a year.
It will pay investors 300 million pounds in July 2016, a 20percent increase on the special dividend paid this year.
Foxtons said uncertainty before the election, and a coolingoff in London's red hot property market in the last year hit itsprofit, but it was confident that sales would bounce back in thesecond half of the year.
Activity had increased since the poll, which was won by theConservative party, it said.
"This is encouraging and we enter the second half of theyear with stock levels up 12 percent compared with last year, a1 billion pound sales pipeline and our recently opened branchescontinuing to mature in line with expectations," Chief ExecutiveNic Budden said.
Property sales revenue fell 11 percent in the first halffrom a year ago, when it said the sales market was operating atits peak, while pretax profit of 18.1 million pounds was downfrom 23.1 million a year earlier.
Shares in Foxtons were up 8.7 percent at 242.5 pence at 0943GMT, while Taylor Wimpey was down 0.6 percent at flat at 181.6pence. ($1 = 0.6405 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Louise Heavens)
