South-east housing market boosts Bellway The resurgent housing market in the south of England helped Bellway, the mid-cap housebuilder, post a 60 per cent rise in pre-tax profits for year to August. The Newcastle-based group also benefited from the profit margin gains of building on land that it has bought since the start of the financial crisis, having largely worked through its "legacy" landbank. Housebuilders have enjoyed a strong nine months so far in 2012, buoyed by a host of government incentives and a gradual improvement of sentiment among consumers and mortgage lenders. However, output volumes are still sputtering. The 100,000 homes built last year are a long way short of the 220,000-250,000 homes the government says are needed annually to meet its household formation prediction. Howard Dawe, in his last full year as Bellway's chairman, said the resilience of consumer demand had kept sales up during the 12 months, adding that the board "remains mindful of concerns in the wider economy and therefore maintains a cautious approach towards gearing." In line with the increase in profits, the group lifted its full-year dividend by 60 per cent to 20p a share. Bellway, in step with the wider housebuilding industry, has moved away from selling apartments and is focusing instead on family homes. The strategy helped increase the housebuilder's average selling price to £186,648 during 2012, up from £175,613. The company posted sales for the year of £1bn, up from £886m a year earlier. The growth was helped by increasing the number of active housing sites from 195 to 208 over the period. Overall sales rose 6.2 per cent to 5,226 homes during the year, underpinned by a 13.4 per cent increase in the completion of private homes to 4,358. Shares in the company rose 3.2 per cent, or 30 ½p, to 980½p in early London trading.