Barratt, Redrow up dividend payouts as UK housing recovery picks up

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Barratt Developments andRedrow have become the latest housebuilders to unveilincreased dividend payouts to shareholders as Britain's housingrecovery gathers pace.

Barratt, Britain's largest housebuilder by volume, said onThursday it would pay out 365 million pounds ($607 million) individends over the three years to its 2016 full year, based oncurrent analyst estimates.

The company, which also reported a 162 percent jump inpretax profits for the six months to the end of December, saidit would pay an interim dividend per share of 3.2 pence in May.Barratt paid its first dividend in five years in 2013.

Similarly, mid-sized housebuilder Redrow said it would payits first interim dividend in six years of 1 pence per share.The company posted a 107 percent rise in first-half pretaxprofit to 47.5 million pounds.

"Underpinning this strong performance is an improved marketand a business model that is delivering homes that people wantto buy in places they want to live," Barratt's Chief ExecutiveMark Clare said.

Barratt and Redrow join peers Persimmon and TaylorWimpey who this week also said they would either pay outcash to shareholders, or accelerate plans to do so.

Britain's housing recovery picked up pace last year afterthe government unveiled a scheme to free up mortgage lending forhome buyers, boosting demand for their homes.

Barratt, which said it was seeing a very strong start to itssecond half with 0.76 net private reservations per active siteper week over the last eight weeks, said it expects to post fullyear profit at the top end of current analyst estimates.

Analysts on average expect Barratt to report full-yearpretax profits of 323-380 million pounds, according to ThomsonReuters data.