In a trading statement today, the house builder, which is expanding south, said completions were up 25% to 3,245 homes in the first six months of its financial year.

Last year the traditionally northern focused house building group opened two new divisions in the Thames Valley and Manchester.

Bellway said strong growth in both volume and average selling price raised housing turnover 41% to around £690m.

Building on higher margin land and average selling prices breaking through £200,000 has pushed operating margins above 15%.

Bellway reported growing competition for land in some areas of the country, but added that the number of opportunities to acquire land has also increased.

It spent £240m (2013 – £145 million) on land, bringing the total investment in land to almost £1.4 billion since 2008.

Bellway has also agreed heads of terms on a further 4,700 plots, with a value of £217m.

Forward at the end of January were high at 3,836 units (2013 – 2,467), in value terms up 73% against last year.