Reporting current trading, financial performance and the outlook for the current financial year ahead of its annual general meeting today, the group said the number of customers visiting its sites is up 12 per cent on last year and cancellation rates “have continued to run at historically low levels”.

In a trading statement the board said: “We brought forward a healthy order book into 2016 and our strong sales performance over the period has resulted in total forward sales revenue, including legal completions taken so far in 2016, being 8 per cent higher than last year at £2.15bn (2015: £2.00bn). Our weekly private sales rate per site over this period was 6 per cent ahead of last year. We have 7,598 new homes sold forward into the private sale market for 2016 with an average selling price of c. £220,000, an increase of 5.8 per cent over the prior year.

“We are currently developing 370 active outlets across the UK, having opened 75 of the 100 new sites planned for the first half of the year. The group continues to build new homes on all sites where an implementable detailed planning consent has been secured. Planning delays continue to erode the total number of active outlets being developed by the industry, hindering the drive to increase the volume of newly built homes delivered to the market. We are working hard to increase our active outlet numbers towards c.400 by the end of 2016 and will continue to focus on increasing our output to meet market demand.”

Persimmon added that it has continued to invest in high quality new land in support of its future growth.

The group recently concluded an amendment of its £300m Revolving Credit Facility with the company’s five relationship banks, extending its maturity date to 31 March 2021.

Persimmon will provide a further report in its Trading Update in July.