Persimmon has said house prices and profit margins remain under pressure despite a promising start to 2009

In a trading update last week, the housebuilder said sales in the first 16 weeks of the year had been ahead of expectations. Turnover in the period was 拢960m 鈥� 30% down on the 拢1.37bn in 2008. This, in turn, was 24% down on 拢1.8bn in the equivalent period in 2007.

It said: 鈥淲hile the recent improvement in market conditions is encouraging, we will remain cautious about the outlook until mortgage availability improves further and employment prospects become less uncertain.鈥�

We are, however, confident that our position in the market will provide a strong platform for growth when the market improves.鈥�

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