Barratt Developments has announced a drop in sales of social housing this year.

Last week the group released an interim management statement which showed a 39% fall in the value of forward sales of its social homes.

£178.1m has been recorded so far in 2012 compared to £292.2m in the same period last year.

The group says it sold 1,806 social housing plots, down from 2,842 in 2011.

A Barratt spokesperson said: "We don’t see this as an indication of a fall in the wider social housing market. We think it’s due to fluctuations in site coming forward."

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The spokesperson also said that although Barratt had seen the proportion of completions drop over the past 12 months from 22% to 18%, the company continued to work within its long-run average of around 20% completions.

Chief executive Mark Clare has also reiterated a strategy of focusing on higher margin land.

In the private sector, Barratt recorded a 21% increase in sales, up to £768.5m from £634.5m in 2011, with the number of plots rising from 3,137 to 3,514.

Mark Clare said: "We have traded well over the period. Our strategy of securing higher margin land and bringing it into production as quickly as possible is delivering. The group is on track to report a significant improvement in profitability for both the half and full year."

The group has called for "a step change in mortgage lending" to help push an increase in the number of homes being built.

(IT)