Housebuilder Barratt Developments has said the recovery in the housing market is starting to spread.

The comments come as the group reported pre-tax profits for the tear to the end of June of £104.8m, an increase from £100m the year before.

Its average selling price increased to £194,800, up from the previous year's figure of £180,500.

Elsewhere, the group said it had slashed its debt from £167.7m at the end of June 2012, to £25.9m. It also expects to complete around 45,000 new homes over the next three years.

Barratt's chief executive, Mark Clare, said: "These are significantly improved results and we have had a very strong start to the new financial year.

"We are seeing the housing market recovery starting to spread beyond London and the south east with a 29.4% increase in our average net private reservation rate across the Group.

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"Our £2.6 billion commitment to land investment since 2009 puts us in a good position to capitalise on these market trends."

Chairman Bob Lawson added that there had been an improvement in the mortgage market.

"Significant progress has been made on the availability of finance for customers and the mortgage providers' capacity to lend has slowly improved.

"This has been accelerated by a series of Government mortgage initiatives – FirstBuy, NewBuy and Help to Buy."

In the results, Barratt's also tackled the issue of the housing shortage. Last year, the group agreed to acquire land for 18,536 homes, up from 12,085 in 2012, showing an acceleration in their land buying.

Mr Lawson explained: "Since 2009 we have agreed to invest £2.6 billion in new land which is being brought through planning and into production at the earliest opportunity.

"The land that we have secured is transforming the business. It will boost production and continue to drive our margin growth."

Earlier this week, the latest survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) confirmed their had been an improvement in the market, with the number of homes for sale across the UK increasing for the month of August.

(JP/CD)