Announcing record half-year results, chairman Steve Morgan said: “Throughout the 2014 financial year we experienced inflation in both build costs and house prices.

“However, during the first half of the current year I am pleased to report that both house prices and build costs have moderated to sustainable levels.”

He said that planning remained the single biggest block on the industry delivering the homes the country needs, warning obtaining detailed or reserved matter approvals remained a “slow and tedious process”.

Despite this Redrow managed to lift completions by 18% to 1,850 with private legal completions increasing by 30% to 1,654.

Over the same period, the average selling price of our private homes was £300,000, an increase of 14% due to both geographical mix, with more completions in London and the south of England and house price growth.

This helped Redrow nearly double pre-tax profits from £47.5m last time to £95.4m in the half-year.

Operating margins also rose from 13.5% to 17%, helped by slowing building price increases.

To meet the growth in site openings Redrow has lifted its directly employed numbers from 900 to 1,550 staff since the dark days of 2009.

Morgan added: “While we are only at the beginning of the spring selling season, demand for new homes is strong and the welcomed changes to stamp duty will undoubtedly help home buyers within our market segment.

“We started the second half with a very strong order book and are expecting to increase the number of active outlets to 115 by June 2015, a 12% increase.”