IN Brief:
- Group completions including joint ventures fell from 5,264 to 4,986 homes.
- Adjusted operating profit decreased by 19.4% to £129.7m, narrowing the operating margin to 7.7%.
- Taylor Wimpey expects 10,600 to 10,800 UK completions and approximately £250m of year-end net cash.
Taylor Wimpey completed fewer homes and reported lower adjusted profitability during the first half of 2026 as affordability pressure, slower sales, and build cost inflation continued to weigh on the housing market.
Group completions, including joint ventures, fell to 4,986 homes from 5,264 a year earlier. UK completions excluding joint ventures decreased to 4,723 from 4,894, including 1,017 affordable homes. Affordable delivery represented 21.5% of UK completions, broadly unchanged from 21.6% in the first half of 2025.
Revenue rose by 1.7% to £1.683bn, but adjusted operating profit fell by 19.4% to £129.7m. The adjusted operating margin narrowed from 9.7% to 7.7%, while profit before tax and exceptional items decreased from £148.1m to £118.6m.
Reported profit before tax was £116.8m, compared with a £92.1m loss in the previous period. The 2025 statutory result included exceptional charges, notably a £222.2m increase in the cladding fire safety provision and £18m connected with the Competition and Markets Authority’s affordable housing contribution and related commitments.
Net cash stood at £168.6m at 28 June, down from £326.6m a year earlier and £342.6m at the end of 2025. Taylor Wimpey attributed the movement to shareholder distributions, land and work in progress, and fire safety expenditure, although the closing position was ahead of its earlier expectation.
Sales indicators weakened as the half progressed. The net private sales rate was 0.75 homes per outlet per week, against 0.79 a year earlier, and 0.68 when bulk deals were excluded. The cancellation rate improved from 16% to 14%.
Trading remained subdued after the reporting period. During the four weeks to 26 July, the net private sales rate was 0.55 per outlet per week, or 0.53 excluding bulk deals, while the cancellation rate reached 18%. Underlying pricing was approximately 2% below the corresponding 2025 level.
The order book at the half year represented 6,882 homes excluding joint ventures, with a value of £1.929bn. A year earlier, it contained 7,269 homes valued at £2.116bn. By 26 July, the book had risen to 7,085 homes worth £2.002bn, of which 73% were exchanged.
Full-year UK completions excluding joint ventures are now expected to be between 10,600 and 10,800 homes, within the lower half of the range provided in March. Taylor Wimpey expects its blended UK average selling price to be around 1% higher than in 2025 because of regional and product mix, while build cost inflation is forecast at approximately 3% to 4%.
That combination explains much of the margin pressure. A higher reported average selling price does not necessarily reflect stronger underlying pricing when the mix of regions and house types changes. Costs can continue to rise across labour, materials, regulation, infrastructure, and site delivery even while buyers negotiate harder on individual homes.
The company opened 39 outlets during the half, compared with 32 a year earlier, taking the average to 219 and the period-end total to 228. A larger outlet base can support future volume, but it also spreads sales and site overheads across more locations when reservations remain uneven.
Work in progress per UK outlet was 6% lower year on year. Taylor Wimpey said it was controlling site investment, retendering packages, examining specifications, and using supplier substitution where possible. Those measures can protect cash and margins, although excessive reductions in work in progress can also restrict delivery if sales recover faster than build programmes.
The short-term landbank contained approximately 75,000 plots, down from about 77,000 at the end of 2025. Land cost represented 12.5% of average selling price within the owned short-term landbank, while around 3,000 plots were approved and a similar number converted from the strategic pipeline.
Planning performance improved, with approximately 9,300 approvals achieved during the half, including about 6,300 detailed approvals. More than 97% of the land required for 2027 completions had detailed planning, giving the business a stronger technical platform than its current sales rate alone would suggest.
The board has revised annual shareholder returns to 4% of net assets, split between a minimum ordinary dividend and a further return through dividends or buybacks. It declared an interim dividend of 1.20p per share, worth approximately £42m, and authorised another £42m share buyback programme.
Year-end net cash is expected to be around £250m after approximately £100m of cladding-related cash outflows during the second half. The company enters that period with more outlets and a large controlled landbank, but with a smaller order book, lower margins, and a completion target that depends on buyers converting interest into reservations in a market where affordability remains stretched.
