Housebuilder Persimmon will reopen its sales sites to potential buyers tomorrow on Friday 15 May, beating rival Taylor Wimpey’s planned reopening date of 22 May.
Persimmon, which did not furlough any of its staff and kept them on full pay, said that all its show homes and sales sites would reopen with ‘strict’ social distancing and ‘additional hygiene measures’ in place.
Another housebuilder getting back into again again this week is low-cost, first-time buyer focused MJ Gleeson, which furloughed 76 per cent of its workforce during lockdown.
Housing Minister Robert Jenrick has given the housing sector the green light to get moving again, and housebuilders will be able to apply to local councils to work until 9pm at night on construction sites every day apart from Sundays.
Action: Persimmon will reopen its sales sites to potential buyers tomorrow on Friday 15 May
Persimmon and MJ Gleeson’s moves follow similar announcements from Taylor Wimpey and Crest Nicholson, which both said on Wednesday they would scale up their works.
Persimmon restarted work on its sites across England and Wales on 27 April, and in the week starting 4 May restored around 65 per cent of its production capacity.
The group’s sites in Scotland all remain shut as it awaits lockdown easing measures from Nicola Sturgeon and her Government.
In the eight weeks to 10 May, Persimmon secured 1,351 gross private sales reservations and made 1,300 legal completions.
Although providing no precise figures, Persimmon, which has previously come under fire from some disgruntled customers over build quality and customer service problems, said its cancellation rates ‘remain in line with historic trends.’
Costs: Persimmon’s costs and profits since 2010
On Wednesday night Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said housebuilders need to get back into business again, claiming that the sector has played a key role in the path to economic recoveries in the past.
Mr Jenrick singled out Taylor Wimpey and thanked them for offering NHS workers, care staff and emergency service workers a 5 per cent discount on its homes.
David Jenkinson, Persimmon’s chief executive, said: ‘We support the Government’s view that the housing sector has a key role to play in the UK’s economic recovery.
‘The urgent need for new homes has not been diminished by COVID-19 and the new measures announced by the Government will re-open the housing market and allow people to get moving again.
‘Our sales colleagues can now begin to return to site but staff and customer safety remains our first priority and we have put in place new protocols and training procedures to enable them to restart operations safely.’
He added: ‘Persimmon is open for business and we are looking forward to welcoming customers back to site and continuing to play our part in rebuilding Britain’s economy.’
Mr Jenkinson also said that Persimmon’s decision not to furlough any of its staff meant it could get back into business ‘swiftly and safely.’
Despite its upbeat update, Persimmon’s share price is currently down 2.73 per cent or 58.63p to 2,092p. A year ago, the share price stood at around the 2,108p mark, but spiked to around 3,298p in February this year.
Another housebuilder racing out the starting blocks to get back on site again this week is MJ Gleeson, which builds ‘low cost’ two, three and four bedroom homes for people on average or lower incomes in areas of the Midlands and North of England.
Its two-bedroom homes start at around £90,000, and around two-thirds of its customers are ‘key workers.’
First-timer focus: Prices for a two-bedroom home at MJ Gleeson start at £90,000
With this in mind, MJ Gleeson said: ‘In recognition of the extraordinary contribution they have made to keeping us all safe, fed and healthy Gleeson is prioritising sales to key workers and has launched the Gleeson Key Worker Priority Programme on the Gleeson Homes website.’
MJ Gleeson said its sales reservations had been ‘significantly lower’ than normal during lockdown, but claimed it had ‘not experienced any negative impact on selling prices, incentives or lender valuations.’
It said: ‘The Company believes that low cost homes, especially for first-time buyers, will be the segment of the housing market that will recover fastest. The forward order book currently stands at £124.5m on 888 plots.’
Boss James Thomson said: ‘Our segment of the market is typically the one that recovers the fastest.’
Shares in MJ Gleeson are currently down 0.7 per cent or 4.9p to 695.1p, and a year ago stood at around the 850p mark.
Analysts at Liberum said: ‘Gleeson is one of our preferred housebuilders as we are convinced that its strong exposure to first-time buyers (80%) and low price points will prove the most resilient parts of the housing market. We see over 16% upside to our unchanged target price of 814p.’
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