An upbeat trading statement for the beginning of the year offers further evidence of the strength of the housing recovery in the north.

Reservations at the low cost house builder were significantly higher than the prior period.

Total sales in the year to date, comprising reserved, contracted and completed homes, were 63% ahead of last year.

The Government’s “Help to Buy” initiative accounted for 31% of completions so far this year.

Gleeson Homes now expects to record more than 540 completions in the year to 30 June 2014, a 33% increase on 2013.

It now boasts 37 active sites, compared with 29 at the same time last year.

The house builder confirmed it was in talks to buy 10 major sites which, if purchased, would add 1,300 plots to the regeneration land pipeline, taking the total number of plots to more than 6,100.

The strategic portfolio consists of 67 sites, which have the potential to deliver 21,900 plots.

There are currently 15 sites either with submitted planning applications or with a planning appeal lodged, which have the potential to deliver 100 acres of commercial land, a 60-bed nursing home and more than 2,000 plots.