<p>Barratt says it is focusing on optimising prices rather than volume as the firm announced a boost in operating profit to £90.1 million to the year ending June 2010, against £34.2 million last year.</p> <p>Forward sales were up by 27% on last year at the end of June and average selling price up 10.9% to £174,300. Reservation rates in the private sector increased by 4.2% to an average of 0.50 per active site per week. This has dropped back to 0.48 however since June.</p> <p>Baratt ceo Mark Clare said: "During the year we have seen a very significant improvement in the performance of the business - operating margin increasing to 5.9%, returning us to profitability and gearing falling to 18%. Whilst the outlook for the UK housing market is still challenging, our priority remains optimising prices rather than volume and securing high qualty land that will continue to drive our margin recovery."</p> <p> </p>