UK's Vistry lifts build target on demand for affordable homes

Aims to build 18,000 homes in 2024 vs 17,500 guided earlier

*

Sees half-year, annual profit ahead of last year

*

Year-to-date sales rate 0.96 units vs 0.87 year ago

May 16 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Vistry raised its annual homebuilding target by about 3% to over 18,000 on Thursday, buoyed by resilient demand for its affordable homes, mainly from housing associations.

Shares in the FTSE 250 company were up 2% in early trade and have gained about 41% this year.

A delay in UK interest rate cuts has tempered hopes of a stronger recovery in the housing market, but Vistry's focus on cheaper homes has given it an advantage over some peers.

Rivals including Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon have warned of subdued market conditions this year.

CEO Greg Fitzgerald said Vistry was on track to build 10% more homes this year than last, with annual profit also expected to be higher.

"Management expects to deliver a higher number of completions than previously guided, but at this point we would not expect FY24 consensus profit before tax to change materially given the likely mix of completions," Investec analysts wrote in a note.

In March, Vistry said it aimed to build more than 17,500 homes, compared with 16,118 a year earlier.

The company, which makes the largest part of its sales from partnerships with local authorities, housing associations and government providers, said forward sales as at May 15 totalled 4.9 billion pounds ($6.2 billion), up 10% on the year.

It also said the group continued to see strong interest from the private rented sector, while open-market sale prices had remained relatively flat.

Vistry, one of Britain's biggest homebuilders in terms of properties built per year, said its total sales rate averaged 0.96 units so far this year, versus 0.87 a year ago, and had improved to 1.23 over the last eight weeks.