Persimmon Homes managed 8,976 legal completions in 2009, compared with 10,202 in 2008, with an average selling price of £160,513 (down from £172,994 last year).
However, Britain’s largest house builder says it has a strong forward sales book of around £900 million, up 29% on 2008.
Ninety new sites are scheduled to open in the first half of 2010, compared with 90 during the whole of 2009 and the group’s landbank stands at a health 60,454 plots, representing over six years’ supply.
The company also reported that the increased availability of mortgages throughout last year has had a major impact on the stabilisation of the market.
Finally, the group revealed that it has negotiated the replanning of a number of new sites with local authorities to contain a higher proportion of traditional two storey houses that are “more desirable to our buyers”.
The sites are due for commencement in the first half of 2010.
Earlier this month, house builder Redrow launched a new range of homes inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s.
The group’s chairman, Steve Morgan, called on planning authorities to actively encourage the building of traditional family homes, rather than residences that are “more at home in Stalingrad”.
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