Robust performance for Persimmon
The average selling price for new homes from housebuilder Persimmon was up by nearly £15,000 in 2020.
They increased from £215,709 in 2019 to £230,500 but the number of new home legal completions fell from 15,855 to 13,575 and group revenue was down from £3.65 billion to £3.33bn.
Persimmon, which has its West Midlands office in Wolverhampton, said trading had been robust despite the challenges arising from the pandemic, including the ongoing increase in the time taken to progress and complete sales contracts.
A robust performance in the second half of the year, delivering 8,675 new home legal completions, has mitigated some of the impact of the delays caused by the initial Covid-19 lockdown period in the first half.
Chief executive Dean Finch said: "The group's strong second half completions were supported by its advanced build coming into the year, an agile and effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic and resilient customer demand. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues and our suppliers and subcontractors for their continued hard work and commitment throughout this challenging period.
"The health, safety and wellbeing of our customers, our workforce and our communities has been paramount throughout and all of the group's businesses continue to operate in line with our Covid-secure policies and procedures"
Persimmon will release its final results for 2020 on March 3.
It had a total forward sales value of £1.68bn at the start of the year providing a strong platform.
The group currently has around 300 active sales outlets and 10 sites are under construction awaiting their first sales release. In the West Midlands it is building homes at Newport, Norton Canes, Penkridge, Shrewsbury, Telford, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.
Persimmon plans to open a further 50 new sites in the first half of the year.
