The UK’s third-largest house builder has responded to collapsing profit by slashing its dividend, with the firm blaming “uncertainty” around last year’s Budget.
Taylor Wimpey’s profit plummeted by 54 per cent to £146.5m despite revenue growing by 13 per cent to £3.8bn, in the financial year to December 2025.
The firm announced a final dividend of 2.95 pence per share, down by more than a third (37 per cent) from 2024’s 4.66p end-of-year dividend.
The housebuilder joins a number of its competitors in claiming speculation in the long run up to last year’s Budget hurt its progress on housebuilding, as Labour’s 1.5m homes target comes under pressure.
Taylor Wimpey cited a “challenging year for the sector,” saying: “Uncertainty ahead of the late Autumn Budget impacted sales through the second half of 2025 and our order book coming into 2026.”
But the housebuilder reported an increase in home completions having built 10,614 homes in 2025, six per cent more than in 2024.
Chief executive Jennie Daly said: “Taylor Wimpey is a strong and agile business with highly experienced teams, and we are well positioned to generate value from our high-quality, well located landbank.
“Against a backdrop of continuing market uncertainty and more recent geopolitical events, we remain focussed on delivering our strategy set out at our recent Investor and Analyst event in October.”
The group said its spring selling season is going well, praising mortgage availability and “encouraging” levels of customer interest.
“However, while affordability is improving, it remains difficult for first time buyers to access the market, particularly in the South of England,” the report said.
Shaky week for house builders
The firm, which is listed on the FTSE 250, has also announced a £52m share buyback scheme, bookrun by Citigroup.
The buyback will start on Thursday and end no later than the end of June, as Taylor Wimpey aims to cut its share capital.
The group said: “We recognise the importance of cash returns to shareholders and have demonstrated our commitment to making significant distributions.”
Taylor Wimpey’s results come in a tumultuous week for the house building sector, with the shock retirement of Vistry’s chief executive prompting a 20 per cent share price spook for the FTSE 250-listed firm.
Vistry also bemoaned a “challenging” housebuilding market, blaming “uncertainty” leading up to last year’s Budget for a cautiousness in the sector.
Barratt Redrow, the UK’s top housebuilder, announced on Wednesday it is replacing its chief executive, David Thomas, with former infrastructure boss Dean Banks.
