Listed house building Carin Homes expects to report revenue of €131m from 403 closed new home sales in the first half of this year, according to a trading update.

Based on this, Cairn was selling homes for an average price of €325,062.

Cairn has a closed and forward sales pipeline of 1,530 new homes with a net sales value of €560m.

Cairn said the impact of house price inflation is slightly ahead of build cost inflation with its 2021 full year gross margin now expected to be around 18.5pc.

The company’s 16 active developments are back to full production following Covid restrictions and three new site openings are planned in the second half of this year.

Cairn has set a target to complete 2,500 new homes by the end of next year. Over 60pc of that target is now covered by closed and forward sales.

Michael Stanley, CEO of Cairn, said: “Demand for new homes has never been stronger and the lack of supply has never been more acute.”

“Government leadership's comments on prioritisation this week point the way forward. It requires a significant increase in capacity and delivery involving both public and private sectors working in parallel. It is also imperative that good planning secured for thousands of new homes does not get consistently stymied by referrals to national and European courts,” Mr Stanley added.

The company said it has increased confidence in its 2022 gross margin guidance of approximately 19pc.

Operating profit for the two year period is now expected to be €125m, while over €150m of operating cashflow is also expected to be generated by the end of 2022.

The company has available liquidity of €200m.

The board of the company intends to announce a €20m dividend of about 2.66 cent per ordinary share when it releases 2021 interim results on September 9.

Cairn said it expects annual dividends for 2021 and 2022 will be at a minimum level of €40m each year.