Taylor Wimpey said profits and revenue fell sharply as rising interest rates knocked the housing market.

In the six months to 2 July, the home builder said pre-tax profit slumped 29% to £237.7 million from £334.5m in the previous year.

Revenue was down 21% to £1.64 billion from £2.08bn while House completions slipped to 5,120 homes from 6,922 last year.

Jennie Daly, chief executive, said: “The first half of the year has been characterised by variable market conditions including substantially higher mortgage rates.”

Nonetheless, Britain’s third biggest home builder said it would build more homes than forecast this year despite flagging concerns around whether customers could afford to buy at a time of higher mortgage costs.

The firm expects full-year UK completions excluding joint ventures to be in the range of 10,000 to 10,500, the upper end of previous guidance, reflecting a healthy order book and strong underlying interest.

It forecast operating profit including joint ventures to be in the range of £440-£470m.

Despite the fall in profit, the interim dividend was boosted to 4.79p from 4.62p, a rise of 3.7%.