Bovis Homes has revealed a 19 per cent drop in forward sales and warned of difficult housing market conditions for 2008 and is the third house builder this week to report a slowdown in sales.

It also said that it had sold 6 per cent fewer homes during 2007, with legal completions falling from 3,123 in 2006 to 2,930 last year.

The group said in a statement: "Looking ahead, a number of external market metrics suggest that activity in the UK housing market has slowed: both in terms of the lower rate of house price growth, and in terms of the reduced number of new mortgages being issued.

"Given the rapid rate of emergence of these trends and an expectation that interest rate cuts will continue, the outlook for 2008 is not clear at present."

Forward sales at the end of last year stood at 816 reservations, 19 per cent lower than a year before, reflecting the slow down in activity during the second half of 2007.

Despite the difficult market Bovis said that it anticipates pre-tax profits for 2007 to be broadly in line with current analyst forecasts and that land sales and other income during the year were in line with its own targets.

Average private home sales prices increased by 4 per cent, however, the firm's overall average selling price fell last year by 2 per cent because it sold more social and partnership housing.

In early trading Bovis shares traded virtually unchanged on overnight levels, up 1p, at 491p.

On Wednesday a rival house bulder Persimmon posted a 14 per cent drop in forward sales and yesterday Redrow reported a fall of 9.5 per cent, with both companies also warning of tougher conditions this year.

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