York-based house building giant Persimmon plc published an update on trading for the period from January 1, 2026, to April 26, 2026, for its AGM on Thursday, saying its current forward sales are up 5% at £2.46 billion, of which £1.8 billion are private forward sales.
“Our private forward sales have increased by 7% to £1.80bn with a private average selling price of c.£306,900, up 5% compared to the same point last year,” said Persimmon.
“Overall pricing on reservations remains robust, with total incentives continuing to run at around 4-5% on average.
“We have a strong land bank as a result of the investment made in recent years and, given the current backdrop, we are now being even more disciplined in our acquisition of new land. We continue to have good planning success with 3,080 plots achieving detailed or reserved matters approval in the first quarter (2025: 2,781), supporting our growth ambition of operating from at least 300 outlets.”
In its outlook, the York firm said: “We have started 2026 well, with the investment made in the business over recent years enabling us to deliver an improved sales rate and increased forward order book. To date, we have not experienced any material impact from the heightened macroeconomic uncertainty on either our supply chain or our sales rates.
“We continue to be mindful of the potential effects on consumer confidence and affordability, with some increases in mortgage rates seen since early March. While enquires have softened slightly in the last few weeks, sales have remained resilient and our interactions with institutional customers in both the affordable and build-to-rent sectors remain positive, with 19 new partners added over the last 12 months. This demonstrates the benefit and resilience of our three-brand strategy.
“There are early signs of increased inflation in the supply chain, driven by higher energy costs, which are likely to impact the second half of 2026 and into 2027. We are looking to mitigate these where possible through our strong relationships with our suppliers and subcontractors, while continuing to benefit from our low-cost vertically integrated model. In addition, we are reviewing costs within the business to ensure we remain as efficient as possible.
“The duration and full consequences of the conflict remain unknown. We will continue to monitor developments and provide a further update with our half year results in August.
“Assuming market conditions do not materially deteriorate, we anticipate delivering profit before tax in line with consensus and completions of between 12,000 and 12,500 homes in 2026. Of these 2026 completions, over half of our private homes and almost all our housing association homes are already secured.
“Our investment into our three strong brands, our vertical integration capabilities and high-quality land bank, along with continued progress on our building safety remediation programme, support our objective to increase margins, returns and shareholder value over the medium term.”
Persimmon CEO Dean Finch said: “Persimmon has started the year well, building on our strong performance in 2025, with an improved private sales rate and an increase in average selling prices. As a result, our private forward sales are up 7% on the prior year.
“The ongoing conflict in Iran, and resultant geopolitical and economic uncertainty, has not had any material impact on trading to date.
“However, we are mindful of its potential impact, including on consumer confidence, and there are early signs of increased inflationary pressure.
“We are carefully monitoring the situation, driving sales across all brands and tenures, maintaining flexibility and a rigorous focus on cost control and cash generation, whilst being supported by a robust balance sheet.
“Our three strong brands, unique vertically integrated model and high-quality landbank continue to differentiate Persimmon and position us well for growth into the medium term.”