RETIREMENT housebuilder McCarthy and Stone has said the Brexit vote could affect its projected growth for the year.

The Bournemouth-based housebuilder expected its current order book to be enough to deliver its target of 20 per cent increase in sales volumes over the full year.

But it said the EU referendum result had “introduced some uncertainty into the broader UK economy and the housing market in particular”.

It added: “This may have an impact on the timing and cost of the conversion of our strong order book of reservations into completions, which the group will continue to monitor.”

In a trading update for the period from September 1 last year to June 24 this year, it said the company was continuing to capitalise on the ageing population and shortage of retirement housing.

In the first 43 weeks of the year, it released 2,137 homes, contributing to an 18 per cent increase in its weekly net reservations. Forward sales stood at around £426million, up 23 per cent from last year.

It acquired 58 development sites, equivalent to 2,345 extra plots (up from 2,166 last year) and achieved 43 full planning consents, up from 38 last year.

Its chief executive, Clive Fenton, said: “We are making further good progress with the rollout of our substantial and profitable land bank and the delivery of operational improvements to accelerate capital turn and improve returns.

“All of our new regions are profitable and we have continued to see improved sales rates. We are now holding all of the reservations we need to deliver a full year out-turn in line with market expectations.

“Notwithstanding any short term market impact of last week’s referendum result, the business remains in good shape to deliver on its medium term strategy. We now have sufficient sites in build to deliver our 2017 targeted sales and sufficient land under our control to deliver on our strategic objective of building and selling more than 3,000 specialist retirement homes in 2019, although we will continue to review our investment plans and monitor housing market developments following the referendum result.”

The company continued to target return on capital employed (ROCE) above 25 per cent over the medium-term.

It is due to release a trading update for the full year on September 5.