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LONDON, Mar 1 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey beat forecasts with a 106 percent rise in 2012 profit andsaid it was cautiously optimistic about the housing market.
Britain's second-largest builder by market value said pretaxprofit for the year to the end of December rose to 185.3 millionpounds ($281.28 million), up from 89.9 million pounds in 2011.Revenue increased 11.7 percent to 2.02 billion pounds.
Analysts expected Taylor Wimpey to post a 93 percentincrease in pretax profit to 173.61 million pounds, ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S data showed.
"During 2012, we've continued our consistent approach andfocus on margin and returns, delivering a significant increasein profits. These results show the benefit of our short termland and strategic land asset choices," Chief Executive PeteRedfern said.
"We believe that mortgage availability will remain the keyconstraint on the market, although we have seen improvement overthe last few months and hope that this will continue. Thiscombined with a tentative improvement in consumer confidence,gives us grounds for cautious optimism in the short term."
The company said it completed 10,886 homes at an averageselling price of 181,000 pounds, compared to 10,180 homes at171,000 pounds in 2011. The value of its order book at the endof 2012 was 14 percent higher at 948 million pounds.
Taylor Wimpey and its rivals have defied sluggish housingmarket growth in Britain over the past year. They bought landcheaply during the financial crisis and have built in the southof England where house prices have stayed strong.
Its strong performance comes after Persimmon andBovis Homes posted double digit growth in profits onMonday and Barratt Developments reported its best startto the year since 2007.
Taylor Wimpey proposed a final dividend of 0.43 pence, upfrom 0.38 pence in 2011.
The firm's shares closed at 81.1 pence on Thursday valuingthe company at 2.62 billion pounds.
