The boss of Bellway, one of the country's largest housebuilders, has backed calls for Philip Hammond to scale back the Help to Buy scheme, despite it helping propel his company to record profits and a bumper dividend.  

The FTSE 250 company made £641m in pre-tax profits in the year to July, up 14.3pc, as revenues leapt 15.6pc to £3bn.

Almost 40pc of the 10,300 homes it sold were aided by Help to Buy, which offers customers an equity loan worth up to 40pc of a home’s value to minimise the need for a large deposit.

Jason Honeyman, chief executive, said while the scheme had helped give “developers like me the confidence to keep investing in land and people and divisions to deliver more homes”, it ought to be more targeted.

Critics of the scheme have called upon the Chancellor to lower the maximum house price eligible for help, currently £500,000 and £600,000 in London, and restrict it to first-time buyers in the Budget later this month.  

Mr Honeyman said: “When we see people who are on combined salaries north of £100,000 buying homes of up to £600,000, it’s probably not needed in that space anymore.

“It seems to me it would be appropriate to press the reset button or streamline it to focus on need as opposed to demand.”

Bellway focuses on the more affordable end of the market, with an average house price via Help to Buy of £292,000.

Its record year follows similarly strong performances revealed by rivals Barratt, Redrow and Bovis last month.

While its order book has continued to grow in the months since July, Mr Honeyman warned that activity could cool in the months leading up to the Brexit deadline in March.

He said: “While we haven't noticed a change in sales rates in the year to date we do worry about customer sentiment in our busy spring selling season next year”.

More than 90pc of Bellway’s materials are sourced in the UK and only 10pc of its workforce come from overseas, so the broader impacts of Brexit on the company were likely to be limited, he added.

Bellway hiked its dividend by 17pc to 143p per share, helping its stock price rise 1.4pc to £28.68 in afternoon trade.