The housebuilding company Persimmon saw its shares rise after it announced it expects to hit the targets it set for this year, despite a tough market. Their share price added 25p, making it worth 1148.5p per share.

Homes & Prices

• Persimmon is planning to build about 9,000 homes this year. That’s more than some experts thought they would.
• The average cost of a home built by Persimmon has gone up. Now, a house costs around £256,445, which is more than last year’s average of £245,597.

What’s the company leader saying? Dean Finch, the chief exec of Persimmon, says there aren’t enough homes out there. So, in the long run, there will always be people wanting to buy homes. “With the historic under-supply of homes the longer term outlook for housing remains positive.”

Any challenges? Yes, even though they’re on track:

• They made £151 million in profit from January to June, but this is much less (65% less) than the same time last year.
• They earned £1.19 billion during this time, but this is still 30% less than last year. The company says this is because of some government decisions made last year.
• Fewer first-time homebuyers are buying from Persimmon now. Only 34% of their buyers were first-timers, compared to 42% last year. This drop is because the government stopped the “Help to Buy” scheme, which made it easier for first-time buyers.
• Persimmon also let go of almost 300 workers to save some money. Another company, Bellway, is also cutting down on staff.