Persimmon expects strong trading for remainder of 2015

Housebuilding group Persimmon said it expected strong trading to continue throughout the remainder of 2015, as the UK housing market improved in the second half of the year.

In a trading update released on Wednesday, the group said its private sales rate rose 12% year-on-year since it published its interim results on 18 August.

The FTSE 100 company indicated pricing was still strong across its regional markets, while approvals for house purchases in the quarter to the end of September surged 13% year-on-year, continuing the positive trend established in the previous quarter.

Persimmon added it expects strong growth rate to be sustained through the final two months of 2015, with increases in housebuilding volumes set to be supported by the new measures it has adopted to increase productivity.

"After three strong years (up 2.4-fold since the start of 2013) we would still strongly urge that investors take profit," said analysts at Shore Capital.

"We remain at 'hold', not yet adopting a more negative stance largely still because of the still high yield."

Persimmon shares were down 0.52% to 1,911.00p at 0823 GMT on Wednesday.