Family home sales boost Persimmon

House builder Persimmon said it had a good first half of the year with sales rates and prices running ahead of the corresponding period of 2011.

The group completed 4,712 new homes (2011: 4,439) in the first six months of 2012, an increase of 6% on the prior year. Weekly average private sales rate per site for the first half were up by about 18% year-on-year.

Turnover at the half-way point was up by about 13% on the previous year at around £805m, while cancellation rates remained at low levels in line with the prior year at around 18%. The average selling price was 7% ahead year-on-year at around £171,400 (2011: £160,583) reflecting a greater proportion of traditional family homes in the sales mix.

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"Visitor numbers to both the Persimmon Homes and Charles Church home finder web sites for the first six months are over 50% stronger than for the previous year. This reflects customers' growing preference to search for a new home using the internet and is driving healthy levels of visitors to our developments," the company statement said.

At June 30th, the value of Persimmon's total forward sales of circa £774m was some 7% ahead of the prior year. The group's private sale forward revenue is circa 11% ahead of the same point last year while the value of forward sales to housing associations was in line with last year.

"We have experienced the normal seasonal slow down in private sales reservations from around the time of the Jubilee weekend as we move into the quieter summer weeks," the group revealed.

The group reckons underlying operating margins improved to around 11.5% in the first half of 2012 from 9.0% in the first half of 2011. Cash holdings at the end of June were around £135m, compared to net debt of £15m a year earlier.

Having enjoyed a relatively stable housing market in the first six months of 2012 the group remains wary of the continued weakness in the wider UK economy and the impact it could have on demand for new homes. "However, we remain confident that we will be able to operate successfully in the current market and achieve our strategic objectives," the statement concluded.

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