Ahead of publishing its full results for 2016 at the end of next month, Taylor Wimpey said its expected earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) will be in the region of £750 million.

The company built 13,881 homes in 2016, including its share of joint ventures, which is 4 per cent up on the previous year (2015: 13,341). During 2016 it delivered 2,663 affordable homes (2015: 2,509), equating to 19 per cent of total completions (2015: 19 per cent).

“Against the backdrop of a stable housing market in 2016, we continued to see good demand and solid trading into the second half of the year, despite wider macroeconomic uncertainty,” it said.

Average selling prices on private completions increased by 13 per cent to £286,000 (2015: £254,000) and overall average selling price increased by 11 per cent to £255,000 (2015: £230,000).

It starts 2017 with an order book representing 7,567 homes (up from 7,484 homes a year ago) and building on 285 outlets (31st December 2015: 297).

“We start the year in an excellent financial and operational position with significant embedded value in our short term landbank and strategic pipeline,” the board said. “We expect to demonstrate further progress throughout 2017 against all of our medium term targets, delivering increased returns for our shareholders and focusing on areas of the operational business where we can add value, including driving further improvements in our customer service processes and product quality.”