Chief Executive Pete Redfern said the special dividends – which are extra to regular payouts – were likely to be just a start, as the firm tempers purchases in a land market, which he said was starting to heat up.

Pre-tax profits, before exceptionals, soared 58% to £268m from a 14% uplift in revenue to £2.29bn.

The house builder cautiously raised completions over the year by just 7% to 11,696 homes at an average selling price of £191k, up 5.5% on the previous year.

As a result operating margins ticked up from 11.3% to 13.8% in 2013.

Redfern said: “In the first two months of 2014, we have seen the increased interest levels convert to reservations, with both the North and South divisions of our business following similar trends.

Forward orders as of this week were 38% up on last year at £1.49bn, with more than half of this year’s targeted completions already achieved.

He said: “We have continued to make significant investment for the future, adding to our short-term landbank and strategic land pipeline and increasing the level of training and development of staff, at all levels, from site trades to office technical roles.

“This strong platform and our clear operating and financial strategy leave the Group well positioned to continue to make further progress in the years ahead.”

Taylor Wimpey added 18,770 plots to its short-term consented landbank last year through the acquisition of 9,560 plots in the land market and the conversion of 9,210 plots from the strategic pipeline.

This means the house builder now boasts short-term consented landbank of around 75,000 plots, an increase of around 8% on last year.

Redfern said: “Over the next few years, we expect the strategic pipeline to provide an average of about 6,000 consented plots a year, and completions from these sites to be in excess of the 30% target that we have set.”