Barratt Developments, one of Britain's biggest home builders, said sales of new homes had fallen by almost 15% in the first half of its financial year, reflecting what it described as "tough" conditions in the housing market.
Rival homebuilder and construction group Kier said housing order books are 20% lower than they were a year ago.
Barratt said first-half completions were 9,056, which on a like-for-like basis were down 14.8% - Barratt acquired rival firm Wilson Bowden in April. Turnover, assuming that the company had owned Wilson Bowden a year ago, fell by 17.4% in the six months to the end of December.
The business said trading had been relatively normal in July and August but worsened in September, post the collapse of Northern Rock, the cumulative impact of five interest rate rises and the tightening of the mortgage market.
Chief executive Mark Clare said: "Trading conditions over the past six months have been difficult and the business has had to adjust to this new environment."
But he added an upbeat note. "The new calendar year has started well. We have a strong forward order book. Visitor and reservation levels continue to improve and we remain optimistic that this will continue through the balance of the spring selling season."
Forward sales though appear to be slowing. The company said that at the end of the year, they were running 5.5% lower than at the same point the year before. By February 17th, forward sales were running 7% below last year.
Profits in the six month period increased by 14.3% to £201.8m, largely on the back of the acquisition of Wilson Bowden. Turnover rose 38.4% to £1.65bn.
An increased proportion of social housing meant that the average selling price dropped 0.8% to £179,500.
Kier's chief executive, John Dodds, said the market was "less predictable than we have seen for some time".
Kier reported revenue for the six months to December 31 of £1.2bn, 18.1% ahead of last year. Profits were 23.2% ahead at £44.6m. The company said its construction business was performing well, particularly on the back of building in education, prison and the affordable housing sectors.
Persimmon, the first of the big housebuilders to report earlier this week, warned of a slow start to the spring selling season and said the company had been suffering a "wait-and-see approach" from home buyers.
Visitor numbers to Persimmon's developments remain 13% lower than a year ago as buyers take longer to make up their minds.