New house sales soar

PERSIMMON’S demand for properties increased over the past two months as it built on a 29 per cent rise in half-year pre-tax profit to £352.3million.

The blue-chip firm, whose sales and average price both increased 6 per cent to 7,238 and £205,762, said reservations by buyers of new homes since July 1 were up 17 per cent. Visitor numbers are up 20 per cent on last year.

Chief executive Jeff Fairburn said: “Customer interest has been robust and we anticipate good autumn sales.”

Shares rose 76p to 1870p.