Housebuilder says it will have bought enough sites to build 4,000 more homes in Scotland by end of year

Barratt home Langdale place

Barratt says it will buy another 10 sites north of the border by the end of the year taking the number of homes it expects to build as a result of an acquisition spree to 4,000.

The country’s biggest housebuilder, which last week said it wants to be building 20,000 homes a year in the future, has already snapped up 14 plots – the equivalent of 2,500 homes – in the first six months of the year.

Now the firm is eyeing another 10 sites which it says will give it capacity to build a further 1,500 homes.

Barratt’s regional managing director for Scotland, Douglas McLeod, said: “Demand for good quality homes in Scotland shows no signs of slowing, in line with a steadily growing population.”

The Scottish government estimates that 465,000 new homes are needed by 2035 to cope with demand.

Last week, Barratt said it completed 17,579 homes in the year to June 2018 with pre-tax profit jumping 9% to a record £835.5m on operating margins up from 17.2% to 17.7%. Revenue was up by close to 5% at £4.9bn.