Analysts said the half-year trading update from Barratt was 'more positive in tone' than recent statements from other housebuilders.
While volumes for the six months to the end of December were down 15 per cent on a like-for-like basis, the company entered the new calendar year with an order book worth just six per cent less than a year earlier, at £1.26bn.
Barratt described this figure as 'encouraging' - but said it was too early to call prospects for the house market during 2008.
Fears of a property crash have sent Barratt shares down 65 per cent in the past six months.
Barratt, which bought rival Wilson Bowden for £2.2bn in February last year, said completions during the six months to December 31 on a pro-forma basis dropped to 9,056 from 10,623 in 2006. Overall selling prices during the second half of last year fell by 0.9 per cent to £177,000.
But the firm said average private selling prices were up 0.5 per cent during the period.
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