Pre-election jitters might have taken the shine off shares in the major UK house builders, but Persimmon (PSN) revealed in a trading update that business so far this year shows little sign of slowing.
In the first 15 weeks of the new year, legal completions were up 7 per cent from a year earlier, while the weekly private sales rate per site rose 6 per cent. Encouragingly, average selling prices were higher, but at a more sustainable 4 per cent. This will be enough to cover any increased input costs as a result of labour shortages and higher raw materials costs.
Customers visiting sales sites remained much in line with the previous year, although on-line enquiries to the group's home-finder websites were up by 20 per cent. A total of 85 of the 120 new sites planned for the first half of this year are already open, and, looking further ahead, development continues on a further 385 sites. Land-price inflation remains benign, and the only blot on trading at the moment is the inevitable freeze in the planning process ahead of the general election; something that is expected to unwind after the election.