Persimmon profit ticks up

Persimmon has reported further profit growth in 2024 as its development pipeline and average selling price have increased. The housebuilder has reported a pretax profit of £359.1m for 2024, up from £351.8m a year ago, thanks to average house sale price climbing by 5% to £268,499 and the number of home completions increasing by 7% year-on-year to 10,664. Since the start of 2025, the firm has seen further growth of the average sale price to £288,542. It is now targeting 11,000-11,500 completions in 2025. Persimmon’s current private forward sales position stands at £1.2bn, 27% ahead of that of last year. Dean Finch, chief executive at Persimmon, said: “The underlying market fundamentals remain strong and we are encouraged by the further improvement in our sales rates in the early weeks of this year. “With our strong platform in place, we are targeting further growth this year and are confident the business will grow margins, returns and shareholder value over the medium term.”