(Reuters) – British affordable homes builder Vistry Group said on Friday that easing of mortgage rates in recent weeks was encouraging and this would help stimulate demand in 2024. Vistry, one of the largest housebuilders in the UK in terms of number of homes built, said forward sales – a key industry measure which gauges near-term demand – was up 12.4% on prior year at 4.5 billion pounds ($5.75 billion). ($1 = 0.7828 pounds) (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru and Suban Abdulla in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich)