Taylor Wimpey has delivered strong growth in 2016 profits as it continues to return large amounts of cash to shareholders.

The housebuilder saw its pre-tax profits before exceptional items rise by 21.5% to £733.4 million for the year to December 31, up from £603.8m a year earlier.

Its revenue grew from £3,139.8m in 2015 to £3,676.2m last year - a rise of 17.1%.

The profit for the year was £589.3m, which was up 20.3% on the £489.8m of 2015, while the operating profit grew 20% to £764.3m.

Dividends to shareholders totalled £355.9m during 2016 and are set to rise to £450m this year.

Taylor Wimpey had already issued an upbeat statement in January about its prospects for the year ahead and today confirmed it has made a very good start to 2017 and is “encouraged by robust trading and levels of demand”.

“The UK housing market fundamentals remain good with strong customer confidence in our core geographies,” the firm added.

Pete Redfern, Taylor Wimpey’s chief executive, said: “In 2016 we delivered an excellent performance set against an uncertain political and economic environment that stabilised in the final quarter.

“The outlook for 2017 is for ongoing stability and incremental price growth, which is a healthy backdrop for our business and our customers.”