The second biggest house-builder in Britain, Persimmon, experienced a recovery in sales volumes. The company explained that this indicated that its order book for 2010 was 50 per cent ahead of this time last year.

It should be noted that last year, the York-based property group sold just above 10,000 homes and it has already managed to take £500 million for house sales due for completion next year along with selling all its new-build properties that will be ready in 2009.

It was specified by Persimmon via a trading statement, “The encouraging rate of sales achieved through the summer months was maintained during the autumn period with prices holding steady and even edging up in some regions.”

A hike by 6 pct to £173,000 was seen in the average selling price of homes reserved since July 1, with the mean figure as well as the modest price improvement getting a boost by sales of more expensive properties that included homes rather than flats.  

A decline was maintained in debt levels that previously this year were extremely high and the company was predicted to be pushed into a capital pumping. As on 31st October, total borrowings were £399 million, as compared to £960 million this time last year, and £600 million in the spring.

October, as per Persimmon, represents “a peak debt month”, due to which the house-builder hopes debts to conclude to end the year notably lower than the level achieved at the end of last month. This indicates that it will cross its initial debt reduction target, set at the time of its interim results, of taking borrowings down to £400 million.

The group managed to stay on track on the whole, in order to meet City expectations for the year ending January 7 2010, despite the company warning that any prominent hike in unemployment as the recession dominates could hit the recovery adversely.