It’s only been a fortnight since the launch of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme for aspiring homeowners, but housebuilder Persimmon today said it’s already seeing more interest from potential purchasers.
The initiative — which Chancellor George Osborne announced in the Budget but launched on April 1 — saw the number of visitors to Persimmon’s website jump 30% on the same time a year earlier.
“It had a swift effect,” chief executive Mike Farley said. “We’ve seen an increase in both traffic to our site, where more people are now beginning their house search online, and a pick up in reservations.
“The Government’s stimulus appears to be working — but it is only two weeks in.”
Overall, since January, the housebuilder’s private sales rate per site is 4% ahead of last year, with total sales so far of £1.4 billion, up from £1.2 billion this time in 2012.
Persimmon set out plans to pay a dividend of 10p per share to investors in June next year, a total of £30 million. That accelerates a payment originally scheduled for 2015, as part of its intention to return £1.9 billion to shareholders over nine and a half years.
Farley, who retires today to be replaced by current managing director Jeff Fairburn, said the dividend would not stymy plot purchases.
“We’re very aggressive and last year bought 14,800 plots, increasing our landbank to 68,000 plots,” he said.
Persimmon has outperformed the stagnant property market by building homes in the south, where house prices have remained strong.
