Housebuilder Barratt Developments has said its full year profits will be stronger than expected.

The announcement was made in a trading update by the firm for the year ending 30 June 2013.

The company added that the government's Help to Buy scheme assisted in improving sales.

It now expects full year pre-tax profits to be around £192m. The sales rate also increased by 17.9% in the second half of its financial year, and up 34.7% since the launch of Help to Buy in April.

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Barratt Chief Executive Mark Clare said: "As more house buyers return to the market, supported by improved mortgage availability and the Help to Buy scheme, we are in a strong position to continue to grow the value of the business.

"Momentum is continuing to build and with forward sales up substantially, we are confident we can improve our performance still further in the year ahead."

The company added it could reach its target of completing 16,000 homes earlier than expected, because of the extra demand, and in addition, it had invested more than £1bn in buying land throughout the year.

(JP/CD)