Sales volumes fall for listed housebuilder

York-headquartered housebuilder Persimmon said it is continuing to prioritise higher levels of customer service, despite a dip in sales volumes.

The business today released its third quarter trading statement, which covers the period from 1 July 2019 to 6 November 2019.

Dave Jenkinson, Group chief executive, said: “Persimmon’s top priority is the delivery of higher levels of quality and customer service through the implementation of its detailed customer care improvement plan.

“Central to this plan is putting customers before volume, with sales volumes in the first half of the year being 6% lower than last year, together with making significant additional investments in our annual customer care resources, by about £15m each year, and in the level of the Group’s work in progress, which amounted to about £140m at 30 June 2019.

“On 1 July, Persimmon became the first UK house builder to introduce a customer retention scheme, placing us at the forefront of strengthened consumer rights for homebuyers.

“I am pleased that our progress to date has resulted in Persimmon achieving the Four Star status level in the latest quarterly HBF customer satisfaction survey results and we are currently trending strongly ahead of the Four Star threshold.”

The update notes that Persimmon’s trading over the summer was in line with expectations, with the Group seeing the usual pick-up in customer activity as it moved into the autumn season.

It adds that consumer confidence has remained resilient despite continued uncertainties around the timing and nature of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Persimmon’s trading update also states: “We are now fully sold up for the current year and have about £950m of forward sales reserved beyond 2019 (2018: c. £987m).

“We are mindful of uncertainties facing the UK economy but remain keen to bring new developments through the planning system as promptly as possible to enable construction activity to commence and new homes to be delivered.

“This will help ensure Persimmon’s home building activities continue to support around 50,000 construction jobs on the Group’s sites and in its supply chain.”