Persimmon Exceeds 2025 Sales Expectations, Cautiously Optimistic for 2026

Persimmon's Sales Performance and Future Outlook

Jan 13 (Reuters) - British homebuilder Persimmon sold more homes than expected in 2025, it said on Tuesday, and forecast modest growth in 2026, although it was cautious on the outlook for demand, especially among institutional buyers.

Sales Figures and Market Reactions

The company sold 11,905 homes in 2025, ahead of market expectations of 11,299, and now expects underlying profit before tax at the upper end of analyst forecasts of 440 million pounds ($592.42 million).

Persimmon's shares rose over 2% in early trade to their highest level in over a year.

JPMorgan analysts called it "a solid update" and said they believed Persimmon was "reflecting some conservatism in its guidance, given the beat to 2025 expectations".

Factors Influencing Sales and Growth

Ahead of the UK government's annual budget in November, buyer caution had dampened sales rates and pushed Persimmon to boost incentives and marketing. But the budget’s reassurance on property taxes and stamp duty has revived hopes among analysts that hesitant buyers may return from the sidelines.

Persimmon's 2025 net sales rate per site per week excluding bulk sales rose 4% from a year earlier to 0.59. Including bulk sales, the rate was unchanged at 0.70, though it noted a softening in Build to Rent demand in the fourth quarter.

Impact of Mortgage Rates on Buyers

The company forecast growth in line with market consensus for 2026, citing a robust order book and "encouraging" early signs from its Boxing Day marketing push, but it was cautious, saying that it did not expect a material improvement in market conditions this year as it grapples with weak bulk sales, which are mainly to institutional buyers.  

"Recent reductions in mortgage rates are helpful for our private customers, although we remain mindful of continued affordability constraints," Persimmon said. "Fewer bulk sales in the order book, and continued challenges in the registered provider market, are likely to slow our growth in these markets in 2026."

($1 = 0.7427 pounds)

(Reporting by Aatrayee Chatterjee and Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Susan Fenton)