Housebuilder Redrow has reported rising orders and prices but blamed “political posturing” for having a detrimental impact on the time taken to grant planning permissions in many parts of the country.

Its order book lifted by 10 per cent to £465 million in the first 19 weeks of its financial year, with average selling prices up four per cent at £284,000 due to a better geographical mix and some house price inflation.

Its sales rate per outlet per week for its regional businesses has fallen to 0.65, compared to “the abnormally high rate” of 0.87 in summer 2013 following the start of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.

The FTSE 250 firm said that since the start of its financial year it had added 1,500 plots across 14 sites, taking its land bank to 16,914 plots.

Speaking to its annual general meeting today, Chairman Steve Morgan told shareholders: “As I reported in my preliminary statement in September, the high demand for new homes generated by the launch of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme in 2013 has, this summer, reverted to a more normal level of activity.

“This, combined with a lack of availability on many of our sites due to the strong sales position, produced a sales rate per outlet per week for our regional businesses of 0.65, compared to the abnormally high rate of 0.87 in the summer of 2013.

“During the last 10 weeks we have experienced a traditional autumn market and the sales rate, excluding London, was 0.68, in line with last year.

“In London our developments on release are almost fully sold out and therefore, due to the timing of the launch of our new developments, year-to-date private reservations are 22 compared to 86 last year.

“Cancellation rates remain at historically low levels. The average selling price of private reservations in the year to date is 4 per cent ahead of the same period last year at £284,000, due to both geographical mix and limited house price inflation.

“Our private order book remains strong and in total is up 10 per cent year-on-year at £465m, with the regional order book up 25 per cent.

“Since the start of the financial year we have added 1,500 plots across 14 sites to our current land bank, 520 of which were converted from forward land. The total current land bank, ie land with a planning permission, both owned and contracted, has, therefore, increased to 16,914 plots.

“While the planning system at a strategic level has improved over recent years, obtaining detailed consents and clearing countless unnecessary conditions remains a significant constraint on new outlet openings and growth.

“In addition, political posturing ahead of next year’s General Election is already having a detrimental impact on the time taken to grant planning permissions in many parts of the country.

“Due to the phasing of land purchases and legal completions, our net debt has reduced from £173m in June to circa £120m currently. We expect net debt to be (around) £150m at the end of December 2014. Our balance sheet remains strong, leaving us well placed to continue to invest in new sites.”