RETIREMENT housing giant McCarthy & Stone has reported “significant improvement” in sales, despite a slowdown coinciding with the general election.

The Bournemouth-based PLC said in a trading update that it made “steady progress” in increasing orders.

It said it was still capitalising on a rapidly ageing population, a lack of housing options for older people and its “leading position as the UK’s largest and only national retirement housebuilder”.

It added: “Underlying trading conditions remained stable during the period with some slowing of sales momentum experienced in recent weeks due to the uncertainty created by the general election.”

Despite this, orders and reservation rates had remained broadly in line with the previous year, despite the number of new sales releases falling from 58 to 39.

The order book had grown by £241million since March 1, compared with a £219m growth in the same period in 2016.

Average selling prices topped £280,000 per home, compared with £265,000 in 2016.

Total forward sales, including legal completions, stood at £659m, exactly the same as the same period last year. This was a “significant improvement” since the start of the financial year.

In April, the company blamed a range of factors including uncertainty since the EU referendum for a 40 per cent drop in underlying half-year profits.

But in its latest update, it said it was making “good progress” in rebuilding its order book to address the shortfall seen in the year following the referendum.

Chief executive Clive Fenton said: “The group has made good progress in rebuilding its forward order book despite the lower number of new sales releases this year. “The market for high-quality retirement housing remains strong notwithstanding any potential uncertainty as a result of the UK general election outcome and the underlying housing market continues to be supported by low interest rates, good mortgage availability and low levels of unemployment.

“In light of this attractive backdrop and our strong workflow position, we remain confident of our ability to deliver our growth objective of building and selling more than 3,000 units per annum.”McCarthy & Stone, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, employs around 170 people at its Holdenhurst Road HQ, with another 60 at its southern regional office in Ringwood and more than 1,000 across the country.