Housebuilder says more land needs to be made available for housing as it reports strong half-year results
Persimmon has called for a review of the UK鈥檚 green belt policy to free up more land for housing developments, as the housebuilder reported strong half-year results.
Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn told the BBC鈥檚 Today programme: 鈥淭here are a number of cities around the country that are very constrained [by the green belt].
鈥淎s a company we鈥檒l build on green belt sites or brown field sites 鈥� they鈥檝e just got to be viable. If no other location is viable you need to be able to build on the green belt.鈥�
In the six months to to 30 June 2014, Persimmon posted a 57% increase in pre-tax profit to 拢208.9m, up from 拢132.9m the previous year, while revenue grew 33% to 拢1.2bn, up from 拢899.9m.
Legal completions increased 28% to 6,408 new homes sold (2013: 5,022), while average selling price increased 4.3% to 拢186,970 (2013: 拢179,199).
The firm expects to open around 100 new development sites during the second half of 2014.
Fairburn added: 鈥淧ersimmon has produced another strong performance in the first half of 2014, taking advantage of the current market opportunities to deliver growth whilst strengthening the financial position of the business.鈥�
鈥淎s we have entered the traditionally slower summer trading weeks, we have been encouraged by our private sale reservation rate since 1 July which is currently running 9% ahead of the same period last year.鈥�
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