The firm said the upward pressure on costs was showing signs of easing, while rises in average selling prices have offset materials and labour pressure.

Unveiling soaring profits for the first six month of the year, chief executive Peter Redfern said securing supplies had been a main focus for the house builder this year.

Taylor Wimpey’s logistics arm has struck deals to secure brick supplies around 18 months ahead of build schedule.

Redfern said labour cost inflation had also increased, albeit in a controlled and manageable way.

But overall the house builder has increased the average contribution of a sold home to profit by around 14% to £45,300 for the first half of 2014, compared to £39,600 a year before.

Build cost per unit increased 5.6% to £109,300, reflecting higher quality mix driven product specification and the impact of build cost inflation.

At the same time total land costs per house edged up from 20.9% to 21.5%, as a percentage of selling prices to an average price of £44,100.

This reflected the product mix and increase in volumes from the London market. But a 10% rise in average selling price to £206,000 helped to marginally offset land and cost rises.

Taylor Wimpey completed 5,766 homes during the period, up 11% on last year, of which 4,755 were for private sale. Of these, 42%, or nearly 2,000 homes, were sold with support from the government’s Help to Buy programme.

Redfern said: “In the first six months of 2014, we have seen the positive benefit of the improved environment in all of our regional markets.

“Particularly in the second quarter, we have seen greater balance between the regions, with increases in sales prices and sales rates outside of the strong London and the South East markets.”

Profit before tax and exceptional items jumped by more than 60% to £178m in the first half on turnover up 18% at £1.19bn.

Redfern added: “Our strategy, coupled with the improvements in the UK housing market, has enabled us to significantly improve the quality of our financial performance, whilst delivering sustainable growth of much needed new homes and contributing £116 million to local communities.

“In early July we began our cash return to shareholders, a key part of our active management of the cycle, and with confidence in the underlying strength and future performance of the business, we are pleased to announce that we now plan to increase our July 2015 payment.”