House Builder Persimmon Shrugs Off Brexit Uncertainty

House builder Persimmon (Other OTC: PSMMF - news) says it has bounced back after a brief Brexit hit and that customer interest remains "robust".

Britain's second largest house builder said there had been a "modest increase" in cancellations in the week following the poll but these had now returned to normal levels.

FTSE 100 listed Persimmon said the outcome of the referendum on EU membership had been "quickly digested" by customers, with reservations up 17% since then compared to the same period last year.

Chief (Taiwan OTC: 3345.TWO - news) executive Jeff Fairburn said: "While the result of the EU referendum has created economic uncertainty, customer interest since then has been robust with visitor numbers to our sites around 20% ahead year on year."

Persimmon said it was now in its "traditionally slow summer weeks" of trading but that demand remained encouraging and that it anticipated good autumn sales.

The group pointed to a continued strong jobs market and low mortgage costs buoying the market, which had seen "healthy demand" for home loans.

Persimmon pointed to the continued shortage of housing supply as well as Bank of England interest rate cuts and possible action by the Government to stimulate the economy as providing support.

It reported a 29% increase in pre-tax profit to £352m for the six months to the end of June, with revenue up 12% to £1.5bn.

The number of home sales completed rose 6% to 7,238, with the average selling price rising by 6% to £205,762. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) rose 4% with fellow house builders Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) , Berkeley and Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) also advancing.

Meanwhile figures from HM Revenue and Customs showed the number housing transactions slipped only sightly in July - down 0.9% to 94,550. However commercial property purchases fell 7.5% to 9,820.