Taylor Wimpey hails UK housing recovery as FY profits rise

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said the UK housing market was showing "significant recovery" for the first time in five years as it increased annual operating profits by 39 per cent to 312.9m pounds.The group, whose revenue in the year to December 31st rose 13.7% to £2.3bn, also said it was returning about £250m to shareholders, of which £50m would be in 2014 and £200m in 2015.It expects its strategy to lead to "further significant annual payments from 2016".It proposed a final maintenance dividend of 0.47p against 0.43p a year ago, giving a total for the year of 0.69p against 0.62p beforehand.Chief Executive Pete Redfern said its policy of adding to its short-term land stockpile and improvements in the UK housing market had helped it strongly improve its operating performance.There have been concerns that the UK government's Help to Buy scheme to assist people in getting onto the housing ladder risks creating a house price bubble as rising demand outstrips supply.Redfern told financial news agency Bloomberg that he believed talk of a bubble was overblown, with prices rises across the UK falling far short of the 20% drop in prices after the credit crunch.He said conditions in London were slightly different. "The issue in London is not so much about a bubble, it's about affordability and availability of housing for people to live in," he said.He warned against a sudden halt to Help to Buy, which he said was due to end in 2016, and said there should be a phased withdrawal over time."We would not want to see it continue long-term [...] but some sort of steady reduction seems sensible to us," he said.Taylor Wimpey completed 11,696 homes at an average selling price of £191,000 against 10,886 homes in 2012 at £181,000.The group increased its total order book by 31.4% to £1,246m at December 31st versus £948m in 2013.PW