(Corrects paragraph four to say year-to-date forward sales fell
30%, not sales as of March end)
April 26 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Persimmon Plc said on Wednesday it expects to build homes at the top
end of its annual guidance range, as an improved quarterly sales
rate partly allayed concerns that a sector slowdown could slip
into the next year.
After a marked slowdown in the final quarter of last year,
the British housing market has shown signs of recovery in 2023,
buoyed partly by an improvement in fixed mortgage rates into the
traditionally strong spring selling season.
"Trading over recent weeks has offered some signs of
encouragement, with visitor numbers up, cancellation levels
normalising, and sales rates continuing the steady improvement
evident since the start of the year," CEO Dean Finch said.
Persimmon said its year-to-date forward sales — a key
measure which gauges near-term demand — stood 30% below
year-on-year at 1.7 billion pounds ($2.11 billion).
The housebuilder added that build cost inflation continued
to track at around 8%-9%, with limited signs of easing in the
short-term.
The FTSE 100 company's net private sales per outlet
improved to 0.62 units in the first quarter, compared with 0.30
in fourth quarter of 2022 and 0.98 in the year-ago period.
Persimmon had last month flagged that Britain's slowing
housing market would hit annual profits and slashed dividend by
75% as it forecast annual home completions in the range of
8,000-9,000 units.
($1 = 0.8049 pounds)
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru and Suban
Abdulla in London; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
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