Taylor Wimpey reports strong orders

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said ahead of its annual general meeting on Today that it had seen a gradual improvement in the housing market since the start of the year and was trading in line with itsexpectations.

The company says that mortgage availability and buyer confidence improved in Britain from January to April 29, pushing up prices achieved on sales of private homes by 9 percent in the period.

Taylor Wimpey, the UK's second biggest housebuilder by market value, said in the UK it had met 99 percent of its targeted completed house sales for the half year and 74 percent for the full-year.

"Although economic and political risks remain in the UK, we believe that the underlying shortfall of new build housing and the strong levels of demand will continue to underpin the market," said the company in a statement.

The company, which also has operations in North America, Spain and Gibraltar, said its business in Canada performed strongly and was seeing steady price improvement, compared to a gradual increase in prices in the United States.

Shares in Taylor Wimpey, which have risen 9.5 percent in the last month, closed at 41.4 pence on Wednesday, valuing the company at 1.32 billion pounds.