Vistry Group, one of Britain's largest housebuilders, has warned it expects to make a pre-tax loss of £30m in the first half of the year after resorting to heavy discounting to clear a backlog of unsold homes. The warning, which coincided with news that the company's finance director is departing, sent Vistry's shares down 8%, underscoring the pressure on housebuilders as weak consumer confidence and a softening market undermine sales despite Britain's wider housing shortage.

The new chief executive, Adam Daniels, in post for three months, has pushed through price cuts averaging 7.1% for private buyers, up sharply from 1.4% a year earlier, helping to roughly halve unsold private stock from £600m to under £300m. Vistry blamed the second-quarter deterioration on uncertainty from the Middle East conflict and higher mortgage rates, and said it did not expect any recovery in the second half or early 2027. The firm is seeking £25m in annual cost savings through voluntary redundancies, while its share price has lost almost two-thirds of its value over the past year and it faces a multibillion-pound class action over alleged price collusion.