This morning the newly-quoted Stock Exchange house builder reported pre-tax profits up a third to £154m, with operating margin pegged around 20%.

The firm warned it continued to see rising wage and salary costs driven by skills shortages but maintained cost pressure had been absorbed by selling prices.

Sales revenues jumped 26% to £805m, primarily driven by increases in housing revenue. House volumes were up 8% at 2,725 and overall average selling price rose 14%.

Open-market completions rose by 16%, whereas affordable completions were lower than the prior year, due to the timing of completions of certain apartment projects.

Stephen Stone, chief executive, said: “Since the recent low point of 1,520 units in 2011, Crest Nicholson has increased its volumes by almost 80%.

“We remain on track to deliver on our targets of 4,000 homes and £1.4bn of revenue by 2019, which would represent a record level of delivery for the business and a more than 150% increase over our 2011 housing numbers.

“The housing market is now more sustainable, underpinned by strong demand dynamics, a benign land market and government policies to improve access to home ownership.

“This environment provides Crest Nicholson with the opportunity to grow housing volumes and deliver strong cash returns to shareholders over the medium to long term.”