In a trading statement this morning Taylor Wimpey said its order book had risen 23% to a record £2.1bn, representing 8,546 homes compared with 7,814 at the same time last year.

Sales rates for the year to date were ahead of last year at 0.76 sales per outlet per week (2014 equivalent period: 0.66), as strong sales during the second quarter continued through the traditionally slower summer period and into the autumn.

Despite a planned increase in building, the house builder said cost inflation, driven by labour increases had peaked and would be more than offset by house price rises going forward.

Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, said: “The forward pressure on build costs has stabilised and, at this point, we expect to see a slightly reduced level of build cost increase during 2016 to that experienced in 2015 as more capacity returns to the sector, including through our apprentice, management and graduate trainee schemes.

He added: “We have seen an excellent summer selling season strengthen further in the autumn period, with customer confidence high and demand underpinned by rising real wages and good access to a wide range of mortgage products.

“Against this backdrop, we are reporting record order book levels and expect to deliver an improvement in operating profit margin of over 200 basis points in 2015 and a return on net operating assets of over 25%.

“As we look forward, we are particularly pleased to see that the tighter lending requirements are helping to ensure that monthly payments remain affordable and sustainable, which contributes towards a healthy outlook for both homebuyers and homebuilders.”