Summer sales for the home builder Persimmon have made a nice rebound, after the first half of the year left much to be desired.  The north led the rebound.  Investors in UK’s second biggest builder of homes rejoiced, as their stock dividend surged 25% from 3p to 4p.  Its book for orders is up by 10% over this time last year and the last eight weeks has been a flurry of activity with an increase of 4% taking place.

Mike Farley, Persimmon’s chief, commented on the summer sales activity, saying: "The sales momentum in the northern business has been maintained – normally we see a slowdown in the summer months.  We have seen some slowdown in the south and central [England].”

Farley continued: "We need to see what happens in the autumn period when a pick-up usually takes place.

"We're not getting carried away, but the market is stable which is down to mortgage availability. Mortgage rates are very low, and low interest rates will be here for a while. We don't see problems with affordability; it's that lack of deposit."

The first half of this year was anything but kind, as they endured a 5% slide in overall business.  They completed more than 200 fewer homes in the first six months of this year, only building 4,439.

Farley remarked further, discussing the challenging economic times being faced by everyone, saying: "People would rather buy their own homes than rent – it's cheaper to buy than to rent."

Farley said first timers usually made up an estimated 15% of visitors on site.  Thanks to the First Buy scheme sponsored by the government, the visitor number had jumped to 23%.