Persimmon shrugs off trade war uncertainty as home sales surge

• The FTSE 100 group revealed forward sales totalled more than £2.3bn

By HARRY WISE

Updated: 12:24 BST, 1 May 2025

Trade war fuelled economic uncertainty has yet to impact Persimmon sales volumes, after the housebuilder reported a strong start to 2025.

The FTSE 100 group revealed forward sales totalled more than £2.3billion as of 27 April, 12 per cent higher on the same time last year, with private sales up 17 per cent to nearly £1.7billion.

Average selling prices of private homes rose by 4 per cent to £293,300, while the net private sales rate per outlet, excluding bulk purchases, tipped up 3 per cent to 0.65 per week.

Persimmon said macroeconomic unpredictability has not affected its supply chain or sales rates so far.

The firm does not trade directly with the US market, so it has no significant exposure to President Donald Trump’s recently imposed tariffs.

In early April, Trump slapped a 10 per cent tariff on goods imported from the UK and a 25 per cent duty on any foreign steel and aluminium products.

Healthy state: Persimmon said current economic uncertainty has yet to impact sales volumes

‘We have seen no immediate impact on the business or on customer confidence from the recent geopolitical uncertainty,’ noted Dean Finch, chief executive of Persimmon.

As a result, the York-based company still expects to complete between 11,000 and 11,500 homes this year.

However, Persimmon said it was ‘mindful of current economic uncertainties and the impact that these may have on mortgage rates and consumer spending’.

Britain’s housing market has experienced challenging times in the past three years as rising inflation led to banks increasing their borrowing costs.

However, every major British lender now offers fixed-rate mortgage rate deals of less than 4 per cent in anticipation of future base rate cuts by the Bank of England.

UK interest rates were last reduced in February by 0.25 percentage points to 4.5 per cent, but the International Monetary Fund believes the central bank could lower them three more times this year.

Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro, said: ‘Potential buyers and movers will be keeping a keen eye on the interest rate trajectory, holding out for as good a deal as they can get.’

He added that Persimmon’s ‘focus on affordable homes below the national market average positions it well in a recovering market’.

Persimmon increased the number of properties it constructed last year by 7 per cent to 10,664 thanks to a surge in private completions offsetting a drop in partnership houses.

Persimmon shares were 1.2 per cent higher at £13.11 on late Thursday morning, although they have still slumped by around 38 per cent over the last three years.

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Persimmon shrugs off trade war uncertainty as home sales surge

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