The firm said in a Stock Exchange update today: “Build costs remain benign with underlying increases in fuel and commodities offset by excess capacity in the construction sector, although we continue to monitor this closely.”

Berkeley said sales were 25% higher than last year and the firm is continuing with its strategy to buy-up land.

During the last five months the firm has acquired a further 1,000 plots across eight new sites bringing the total number of plots acquired in the year to 3,500 across 21 sites.