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Britain's largest housebuilder expects the housing market to remain strong and shrugged off concerns that the recent rise in interest rates would harm the industry.
Persimmon, who acquired Westbury earlier this year said the Bank of England's decision to increase interest rates by a quarter point to 4.75% at the beginning of August had had "no tangible effect on our business or on visitor levels or enquiries."
Chairman John White said: "Visitor levels to our sites remain good whilst volumes of sales reservations and revenues are ahead of last year on a like-for-like basis."
"For the majority of our homebuyers, decisions to move are driven primarily by their family dynamics and therefore we expect this healthy market to be sustainable."
The comments came as the group reported a 16% rise in first-half pre-tax profits to £271.5 million before one-off items.
Average selling prices increased to £188,427 compared with £183,581 in the same period last year. However, the company said that did not "expect to see significant selling price increases above those already realised this year".
Mr White said the group had been encouraged by recent moves by the government to improve the planning process and also welcomed its decision to reconsider full implementation of Housing Information Packs.
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