The partnership homes giant said it had stepped up incentives to clear completed and near-completed open market homes as part of a major cash drive.

In an AGM statement today new chief executive Adam Daniels said he was also carrying out an operational review of the business, with findings due no later than the interim results on 24 September.

He said the board remained committed to the partnerships model and its role in delivering new housing across the country.

Daniels said the discounting move concentrated on low-margin sites and schemes nearing completion, would bring forward the hit to profits into the first half.

The stock shift has helped to lift its year-to-date sales rate by 32% to 1.20 homes per outlet per week, compared with 0.91 last year.

Open market sales are still running around 30% ahead of last year, although Vistry said demand had eased in recent weeks as uncertainty from the Middle East conflict weighed on buyers.

He warned that the group now expects H1 profit to be “significantly lower” than last year.

Vistry said discounting would ease in the second half as the mix of active sites improves and demand from affordable housing partners picks up.

Partner activity has been subdued while the sector waits for the next Social Affordable Housing Programme to kick in.

Bidding for the 2026-2036 programme has now closed, with grant allocations and partner status expected in the third quarter.

Vistry said that should trigger a step-up in demand from affordable housing partners towards the end of 2026 and into 2027.

The group’s forward order book stands at £4.5bn, slightly down from £4.6bn last year, with £2.3bn due for delivery this year.

Vistry also warned that events in the Middle East had started to push up material costs and, to a lesser extent, labour prices, with pressure expected to continue into the second half.

The builder is now tightening cash controls, slowing work on some sites to match private sales rates, raising hurdles for land buying and pausing its share buyback programme to prioritise debt reduction.

Average daily net debt in the first half is expected to be higher than last year because of early land payments and slower conversion of reservations into completions, often caused by housing chain delays.

But Vistry said the actions should cut average net debt sharply in the second half and leave the business with net cash of more than £100m by the end of December.