General Election hinders Persimmon

Despite this the York-based firm said house buyers are more confident, reflecting an ongoing improvement in the economy and good deals in the mortgage market.

Persimmon’s chairman Nicholas Wrigley said: “As anticipated, in line with past experience it has become increasingly difficult to secure planning consents for sites as May’s General Election approaches.

“While we would expect such delays to be short term in nature, they are hindering the expansion in the number of active outlets required by the housebuilding industry to support an increase in the volume of newly built homes delivered to the market.”

The company said it had strong sales in the first 15 weeks of the year, resulting in a seven per cent rise in total forward sales revenue to £2bn.