The biggest housebuilder in Britain will be created this week after Barratt Developments confirmed that it would push ahead with its £2.5 billion takeover of Redrow despite not yet having the blessing of the competition regulator.

When the deal was announced in February, one of the conditions was that it would go through only once the Competition and Markets Authority had given the all-clear.

The regulator reported its initial findings two weeks ago. Officials found that the combination of Barratt and Redrow “does not raise UK-wide competition concerns”, but they added that it could lead to “higher prices and lower-quality homes” in one area in northwest England, on the Shropshire-Cheshire border.

The developers are in talks with the authority to address its concerns, although, given that they centre on only a handful of unsold houses in and around Nantwich, most industry observers expect the issues to be resolved.

As such, Barratt has decided to push ahead with its takeover. It said that doing so “removes uncertainty for the employees, supply chain and wider stakeholder groups of both businesses”.

Aynsley Lammin, a housebuilding industry analyst at Investec, the broker, said the decision to “accelerate the deal completion looks very sensible”. He added that any issue with the watchdog appears “easily resolvable”.

The tie-up will create Barratt Redrow, a combination that last year built almost 23,000 homes nationwide and reported revenue of £7.5 billion. Barratt built 17,000 of those, more than any of its rivals.

The two companies expect to save £90 million a year and believe that they can benefit from having three brands at different price points — Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and Redrow — under one roof. For Barratt, the deal will give it access to Redrow’s land bank in southeast England.

Although Barratt will own Redrow this week, it will not be allowed to integrate the two businesses until the watchdog formally clears the deal. Once bosses get the thumbs-up, they will “begin full integration as soon as practicable and permissible”.

Shares in Barratt Developments rose by 18¼p, or 3.4 per cent, to close at 554p, while Redrow’s stock added 34 ½p, or 4.5 per cent, to 795p.