Bovis, the top 10 UK housebuilder, has given warning that faltering consumer confidence has hit sales during the key autumn period.

The warning Bovis, a company that sold over 3,000 homes last year, provides hard evidence of a sharp slow-down in the wider residential housing market forecast by a slew of recent industry reports.

Blaming the credit crunch for a fall in the number of buyers since September, Malcolm Harris, chief executive of Bovis, said that profits for the full year would now be "slightly below" previous forecasts.

Bovis has refused to cut the underlying prices of its properties in an effort to maintain margins but fewer sales this year will translate into a fall in profits.

City analysts sliced £10 million off their 2007 pre-tax profit forecasts for Bovis from £139 million to £129 million. Profits last year were 13.7 per cent higher at £132 million.

Mr Harris said: "Recent events in the financial markets have adversely affected consumer confidence, resulting in sales being lower than anticipates during the key autumn selling period."

In July Mr Harris said that the ability for Bovis to meet its full year forecasts depended on the usual autumn sales season kicking in.

Since August however the credit cruch has triggered a run on savings at Northern Rock, Britain's fifth largest mortgage provider, caused mortgage providers to tighten their lending criteria and judging by today's news from Bovis provoked a wider crisis in consumer confidence

Mr Harris added : "Looking ahead, the mid and longer-term supply and demand dynamic remains very attractive in the housing market, but, in the short term, sales will reflect this recent decline in consumer confidence, in particular as it relates to major consumer purchases."

Analysts had expected sales volumes to grow by about 3 per cent to 3185 units. They now reckon on a fall to 3110.

The gloomy outlook comes less than a month after Mr Harris told The Times that the housing market was "steady".

The builder maintained that it was still in a "strong position" to add value for shareholders.

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