Persimmon sees its house prices rise 7%
BRITAIN'S largest housebuilder, Persimmon, today said house prices remained 'resilient' as it delivered the most reassuring trading update for months on the country's teetering housing market.
Predicting 'stable' prices, finance director Mike Killoran said London and the South of England were faring better than the North. Persimmon bucked the trend among the big housebuilders by reporting an increase of about 7% in its average selling prices and sale volumes ahead of the end of its first half on Thursday.
While there may be little movement in house prices for the next six months, Persimmon is on course for completing about 12,900 home sales by the end of 2005, an 8% rise on last year, after selling about 6,000 in the first half.
Killoran said the South was experiencing good levels of interest after 'what had been a flat two or two-and-a-half years'. He added: 'We are finding the North is going through in pricing - it is more challenging - what the South has already gone through.'
House prices in London and the South-East were now at more realistic levels, he added. The average price of the group's new homes rose to £184,000 from £171,082.
Prices from its upmarket semi-detached and detached Charles Church division rose about 8% to £275,000 while core Persimmon homes sold on average for £174,000 each, up about 7.5%.
Total sales revenue for the full year to date, including legal completions already achieved, is at £1.8bn from about 10,000 homes sold, the same as a year ago.
Persimmon's update follows last week's annual figures from upmarket London housebuilder Berkeley, which showed early signs of a turnaround in the South-East homes market.
Berkeley's forward book of sales to the end of April was up on a year ago while May and June sales were also ahead of a year ago, managing director Tony Pidgley said. Its average house prices were flat on a year ago.
