Taylor Wimpey (LSE:TW.) on Wedneasday cut its full-year completions guidance, telling investors it now expects around 10,500 UK homes in 2026, down from the 10,600-10,800 range it set out at its half-year results in June.
The London-listed housebuilder also guided full-year group adjusted operating profit to the bottom end of the consensus range, which it defines as £262 million to £299 million based on estimates it compiled as of 6 November.
Chief executive Jennie Daly said the Autumn selling season had been "more subdued" as higher mortgage rates and living costs continued to squeeze customer affordability.
The weakness shows up directly in sales trading: the net private sales rate per outlet per week for the period from 29 June to 8 November was 0.60, down from 0.63 a year earlier, with a cancellation rate of 17%, unchanged on 2025.
Excluding bulk deals, the net private sales rate fell further to 0.54 from 0.61.
The order book excluding joint ventures stood at 6,839 homes worth around £1,984 million as at 8 November, down from 7,253 homes worth around £2,116 million a year earlier, continuing the erosion already visible in April's trading update, when the order book stood at £2,229 million.
Pricing showed "further marginal softening" and incentives remained elevated, the company said, while build cost inflation guidance was held at 3-4% for the full year.
Against that backdrop, Taylor Wimpey pointed to outlet expansion as the bright spot: it is now operating from 225 outlets, up around 9% year-on-year from 206, having opened 59 new outlets so far this year versus 51 in the same period of 2025.
The group also flagged a sharp pickup in strategic land conversions, with around 5,000 plots converted from its strategic pipeline year-to-date, against around 2,000 a year earlier, while its short-term landbank was trimmed to around 73,000 plots at the end of October from around 75,000 at the end of June, a deliberate reduction the company linked to capital efficiency.
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Taylor Wimpey reiterated it expects to end the year with around £250 million of net cash, subject to the timing of land purchases, after returning around £240 million to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and buybacks.
It has bought back around 39 million shares for around £31.5 million of the planned £41.9 million buyback programme as at 6 November, and continues to expect to complete that programme by 31 December.
Daly also welcomed the government's "Your First Home" scheme to support first-time buyers onto the property ladder, saying the company's "strong first-time buyer proposition and growing outlet base" position it well as the scheme develops.