While 231 homes on average were reserved each week between March 23 and the end of May in 2019, the figure tumbled to just 71 this year.

In a trading update, the FTSE 250 company reported 6,721 home sale completions between August 1 and May 31, including 708 during the lockdown, which amounted to a fall of 12% on the previous year’s trading. It highlighted a “substantial” £1.57 billion order book, which comprises just over 6,000 homes, but cautioned that sales activity remained “restrained”.

Bellway said: “Given the ongoing uncertainty, financial guidance remains suspended, however, the resumption of build programmes should enable Bellway to slowly increase the number of completions throughout the late summer and autumn months.”

While it awaits the green light to resume construction in Scotland, Bellway has restarted building work on around 230 sites elsewhere in the UK, focusing its energy on homes in the latter stages of production.

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