Persimmon sees sales rebound and points to higher profit expectations

Housebuilder Persimmon has pointed to the beginnings of recovery in the housing market after seeing a growth in sales last year.

The York-based firm, along with all of the UK’s largest housebuilders, has seen a period of decline in recent years as rising interest rates and wider problems in the UK put the brake on sales. But now it has announced a 7% increase in housing completions last year, selling more than 10,000 homes and seeing a small increase in its average selling price.

Persimmon will announce its final results for 2024 in March but in a trading update it said that new home completions had risen to 10,664 last year and its average selling price had increased 5% to £268,500.

It also said the increase was being driven by consistently higher demand for private homes, with its private sales position 31% better off than the previous year. But it said that discounting had been in place for much of the year to drive sales.

Persimmon is now expecting full-year underlying profit before tax to be around the upper end of market expectat