Britain’s biggest house-builder Barratt has cut prices on houses in London, in a reflection of market conditions in the capital.

It is a rare move: developers seldom cut prices on developments because of concerns of alienating people who have already bought.

In a trading update yesterday, it said that “market conditions in London at higher selling prices remain more challenging” and that sales rates compared with a year ago “remain softer in London”.

It added: “To mitigate these risks we have taken pricing action on a number of our sites in London.”

Barratt said that the overall market is healthy, reporting a 4.3% rise in forward sales and the launch of 69 new developments.

Barratt also reported that it spent £200m on purchasing land for development, down from £255.8m the previous year. Barratt said: “While this is less than we would normally expect in this period, it was impacted by our caution immediately following the EU referendum.”

The firm said it is on course to make a 25% profit margin this year.