Barratt Developments has reported a growth in sales over the past six months.

The house builder said the Government's Help to Buy scheme has helped drive the demand.

In its latest trading update, the firm said it had completed 6,195 new homes in the six months to the end of 2013; an increase of 19% a year earlier. It added that 29% of the houses were purchased using the Help to Buy scheme.

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The average selling price for the last six months also increased, surging by 13.7% a year previously. It means the cost is now £211,000, up from £185,500.

Forward sales for the firm also up 70.6% on the same period a year earlier to £1,265.8m.

Mark Clare, Group Chief Executive at Barratt Developments, commented: "As a result of the continued recovery of the housing market across all regions and our £3.1 billion investment in new land over the last four years, we have been able to increase materially the number of new homes being built and our profitability.

"Our disciplined approach to running the business is delivering significant improvements across all key financial metrics and with forward sales of over £1.2 billion, we are well placed for FY14 and beyond."

(JP)