Clear Property Investment understands construction companies this week have reported increased profits and improvements on sales for the year. But they all shy away from the prospect of being overly-optimistic.

Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey said it had bought 3,055 new plots since summer this year and had an order book of £883 million. It had also reduced its net debt to from £860 to £720 million.

A company spokesman said: "In the UK, we anticipate that trading will continue to be subdued for the remainder of this year due to the continuing impact of constrained mortgage lending and ongoing wider economic uncertainty."

The company has also managed to increase its credit facility with its lenders.

Persimmon meanwhile has reported ‘stable' sales with no huge drop in house prices. This year's total for completed homes was 9,400 - a five per cent increase on the previous year. Margins were also expected to double from four to eight per cent.

Forward orders for the company for 2011 and beyond are worth £460 million while Persimmon has bought 4,000 new plots covering a total of 41 sites.

Barratt Developments weren't looking so rosey. Private reservations were down from 0.55 to 0.45 for the same period last year. The company also reduced the number of operational sites from 369 to 349. The average selling price of homes did increase though while completion revenues were also boosted by nine per cent.

Barratt chief executive Mark Clare said: "Whilst the autumn selling season has been weaker than anticipated, our encouraging performance on price is expected to drive margin growth for the year."

Forward sales are slightly down on last year at £870.9 million compared to £872.8 million.

Mr Clare added: "We anticipate limited volume growth in the current financial year driven by new site openings."

Administrators for Rok meanwhile, after announcing 1800 redundancies, insisted sales of social housing would continue.

The company's construction business in Scotland closed recently, together with its maintenance and improvements division throughout the UK.

Rob Hunt, partner and joint administrator at administrator Price waterhouse Coopers said they had established an employee relations helpline and were working closely with employees affected by the decision."

For further information on property investment and updates on the housebuilding and construction sector keep referring to updated news on this website or contact any of our Clear Property Investment staff.

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