The average Bovis home sold for £216,000, a rise of 11pc on the previous year partly due to a trend towards building larger homes and increasing demand from buyers.

Sales have been about 2pc ahead of expectations in 2015 so far, the firm said, with 479 reservations and 2,336 sales heading for legal completion this year.

Such is the clamour for new homes that in the past year a shortage of building subcontractors and the rising prices of some materials have pushed up the cost of building a home, although these pressures have eased somewhat recently.

“What we are starting to see is that the supply chain for labour has reacted, and there are more people coming in through training, and people coming back to the industry, moving into the industry,” said Mr Ritchie.

The Help to Buy scheme has also driven sales by improving access to mortgages for buyers with low deposits. The mortgage guarantee for buyers with a 5pc deposit ends in December 2016, while the government-backed equity loans for buyers of new homes has been extended until 2020.

Bovis increased its annual dividend from 13.5p per share to 35p, and plans to pay at least the same amount this year. Shares in FTSE 250-listed Bovis opened broadly flat on Monday, having risen 7.6pc in the year to date.

In a busy week for corporate earnings, rival house-builder Persimmon will report full-year figures on Tuesday, followed by the estate agent Rightmove on Friday and a string of mortgage providers reporting throughout the week.