The UK housing market is slowing as interest rates begin to bite, the UK's biggest homebuilder has said.
But Taylor Wimpey - formed by the merger of George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow - said though the market was "subdued", conditions remained stable.
It added that short-term conditions in the struggling US housing market "remained difficult to predict", but it was confident for the longer haul.
The firm saw pre-tax profits of £259m in the six months to 30 June.
Shares climbed 5% as it revealed it had found an additional £30m in cost savings from the merger and announced plans for a £750m share buyback.
Taylor Wimpey said that it would concentrate on forward selling as it tried to beat the tough trading environment, with its order book 5% ahead of last year.
UK interest rates have risen five times since August 2006 and now stand at 5.75%, pushing up the cost of mortgages.
In the US, the firm said that plunging land values in Florida and California had forced it to write down £60.9m from its books, on top of a £25m provision announced in May.
Rising interest rates and higher mortgage defaults, especially among the sub-prime market, have dented the US housing market.
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