Heijmans construction firm expects to benefit from more home sales in 2024

Heijmans construction firm expects to sell more new-build homes next year. This was announced by the construction group when it published its annual results for 2023. Heijmans already sees this in the fact that the sale of houses has picked up recently. Sales have increased since the last quarter of 2023, especially outside of urban areas. "Inner-city projects are larger and more difficult to realize, so the recovery in this segment is somewhat slower," the company explained.

Heijmans managed to sell a total of 1,803 new-build homes throughout 2023. That number is in line with the 1,811 homes sold in 2022. The turnover for the real estate division amounted to 412 million euros last year, compared to 570 million euros in 2022.

According to Heijmans, there are two main reasons for this decline in turnover. Firstly, it took longer to achieve the desired pre-sales quotas, i.e. the proportion of homes that must be sold before construction can begin. "Secondly, the projects are slowing down due to the increasingly lengthy regional planning procedures, as the objection procedures take more time," the construction company explained.

Heijmans believes that the shortage in the housing market is the result "of years of government policy with a focus on inner-city construction of mainly apartment complexes". This policy results in a "one-sided supply of mostly large-scale, inner-city projects with long construction times and difficult business models," said the Rosmalen-based group.

If it were up to Heijmans, the focus should rather be on building suburban homes. Even though these homes should be affordable, the company advocates not losing sight of the influx of first-time buyers. "In about seven to ten years, today's first-time buyers will need to continue their housing careers," the company says.

In September, Heijmans completed the acquisition of the development and construction activities of the Brabant family business Van Wanrooij. Together with the homes that this company managed to build, Heijmans managed to sell almost 2,600 homes. Ultimately, Van Wanrooij contributed 125 million euros to Heijmans' turnover last year.

“We look positively to the future with an increasing order book, with an annual turnover of € 2.5 billion in sight by 2024. Our prospects for Construction & Technology and Infrastructure remain strong. With the recovery of the housing market already underway, we are ideally positioned for further growth in results with Vastgoed and Van Wanrooij, with a total land portfolio of approximately 30,000 homes,” Heijmans CEO Ton Hillen said.

In contrast to the real estate business, Heijmans' other business areas were able to increase their turnover. The turnover of the entire company rose from over 1.8 billion euros in 2022 to over 2.1 billion euros last year. The bottom line was a net profit of 60 million euros, the same as a year earlier.