Barratt have shed 29 per cent of staff - about 1900 jobs - to cope with the steep decline in the housing market. They have also identified a further £80million in cost savings during their next financial year. As of February 15, forward sales had risen to £633million, representing about 80 per cent of their full-year target. But the firm have had to tempt buyers with incentives such as shared equity and part-exchange on their existing homes, and average selling prices fell almost 10 per cent to £160,700 over the period. Shares in Barratt jumped 13 per cent after the results. Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Keith Bowman said: "Although the news is bad, expectations were already extremely low."