In its half-year results, the housebuilder said since the start of July, its net private sales rate was at 0.69%, which was a 68% rise on the same period last year. Persimmon said this gave the company “good confidence” regarding delivering around 10,500 homes this year. 

Additionally, its current private forward order book was 28% higher at £1.12bn. 

During the first half of the year, Persimmon delivered 4,445 new homes, higher than 4,249 last year. These sold for an average of £263,288, 3% up on last year’s average sale price of £256,445. The group said this reflected a higher share of private homes compared to the same period a year earlier. 

Persimmon said its performance during H1 had been “encouraging”. 

Persimmon reported an underlying gross profit of £235.4m for the period, up on the previous year’s £234m profit. The group said this was supported by its “well-established” land replacement strategy, with land cost recoveries of 12.1% of new housing revenue. 

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Dean Finch, group chief executive of Persimmon, said: “Persimmon is a growing company with growing opportunities. The first half of the year has been strong with improved sales rates and robust average selling prices, despite ongoing affordability challenges. 

“Strengthening consumer sentiment, improving macroeconomic conditions and the government’s welcome and ambitious planning reforms that demand more of the high-quality, affordable homes that are Persimmon’s core strength are all supportive of our ambition to grow this year and in the future.” 

He added: “We are opening more sites this year and will do the same next year, demonstrating the benefit of our continued land investment in recent years. This growing and strong platform means we are ready to deliver more of the homes our country requires while securing industry-leading returns over the medium term.”