AGM

Barratt Developments PLC
16 November 2000

                            
            Statement made by  Mr Frank Eaton
          Chairman of Barratt Developments PLC
              At the Annual General Meeting
           Held on Thursday 16th November 2000
                            
I  would like to take the opportunity today to comment on
our  results for the financial year ending 30th June last
and  also  to  update  you on current trading  conditions
since   1st  July  and  our  prospects  for  the  current
financial year.

Our  results  to  30th June revealed yet  another  highly
successful  year. We delivered record profit  and  record
turnover  with pre-tax profits up by 28% to  £143.9m  and
earnings  per share up by 31%. This extended further  our
track  record of uninterrupted growth over the past eight
years  -  an  achievement  which  is  unrivalled  in  the
housebuilding  industry.  During  this   time   we   have
increased earnings per share by an average of over 20%  a
year.

We  benefited  fully  from  the buoyant  housing  market,
increasing  our unit completions by 11% and  our  average
selling  price  by 13% to £112,600. Our  excellent  sales
performance  also boosted our forward sales to  a  record
£403m,  up  17%,  placing  the Group  in  a  very  strong
position for the new financial year.

The UK housing market began to show signs of slowing from
April  last,  however, this adjustment to the  market  is
largely  restricted to the South East where the  activity
levels    were   unsustainable.   Notwithstanding    this
adjustment,  all of our markets continue to be  good  and
the South East market continues to be the strongest.

As  we move forward through our current financial year  I
am  pleased  to  report that we continue  to  produce  an
excellent  sales performance. We benefit enormously  from
our  total  geographic  spread  and  from  servicing  all
sectors of the market. Sales reservations since 1st  July
are  up  6% year on year, further increasing our advanced
sales to over £450m.

We  also  continue to increase our average selling  price
and  contain  selling  costs in line  with  expectations,
which  coupled  with stringent controls of overheads  and
construction costs gives us great confidence.  We  remain
fully  on course to achieve  further sound growth in  our
volume, profit and margins.

Planning  delays continue to be a concern. The system  is
equally  inefficient whether for brownfield or greenfield
sites  and  as  an  industry  we  are  calling  for   the
Government    to    at   least   fast-track    brownfield
developments. Disappointingly, though, there  appears  to
be little Government will to deal with this issue.

Against  this difficult planning background, our  success
in progressively increasing land holdings has been one of
our   major   strengths.  We  are  industry  leaders   in
brownfield  development and comfortably exceed Government
targets. In the year just ended we further increased  our
land  stocks to 31,700 plots, up 9%, which is  consistent
with our growth objectives. This ongoing increase in  our
land  stocks,  focusing on prime locations and  areas  of
proven demand, has been achieved whilist maintaining  our
stringent land buying criteria.

During the year the quality of the product and service we
provide  to  our  buyers  has again  been  recognised  by
numerous  top industry awards. At the annual What  House?
Awards three weeks ago we won more awards than any  other
housebuilder.   And  in  the  National   House   Building
Council's  Pride in the Job campaign our site  management
teams  have  won  over 30 awards to add  to  the  supreme
national  award for quality workmanship won earlier  this
year.  And  in the Green Leaf Awards for the environment,
we  won  no fewer than eight awards, including  the  Best
Brownfield Development in Britain.

Looking  ahead,  the recent stabilising  of  the  housing
market  will  help  to  maintain a good  and  sustainable
market.  Interest rates are generally considered to  have
peaked  at their current level and this, coupled  with  a
very  competitive  mortgage market, is supporting  house-
buyer confidence.

We  have  an excellent land bank with selling outlets  in
quality locations across all markets sectors. We  have  a
proven  management  team  with the  marketing  skills  to
continue  our  sales  success and we are  well-positioned
with  forward sales at record levels. This means  we  are
extremely well-placed to continue our sound progress  and
we face the future with great confidence.



Frank Eaton
Chairman                           16th November 2000