YORK headquartered national housebuilder Persimmon is reporting further development of its "healthy" order book with an eight per cent rise in forward sales.

The Fulford based firm held its annual general meeting at York Racecourse yesterday, during which chairman Nicholas Wrigley updated shareholders on progress made by Persimmon from the start of the year.

He also revealed the company has agreed an amendment to its £300 million credit facility with its five relationship banks, extending the deal to March 31, 2021.

Mr Wrigley said progress made by the UK economy has supported consumer confidence, resulting in the number of customers visiting Persimmon's development sites rising by 12 per cent compared to last year.

He said: "Mortgage lenders remain keen to offer customers the opportunity to access mortgage credit on very attractive terms. Cancellation rates have continued to run at historically low levels.

"We brought forward a healthy order book into 2016 and our strong sales performance over the period has resulted in total forward sales revenue, including legal completions taken so far in 2016, being eight per cent higher than last year at £2.15 billion.

"Our weekly private sales rate per site over this period was six per cent ahead of last year and we have 7,598 new homes sold forward into the private sale market for 2016 with an average selling price of around £220,000, marking an increase of 5.8 per cent over the prior year.

"We are currently developing 370 active outlets across the UK, having opened 75 of the 100 new sites planned for the first half of the year.

"The Group continues to build new homes on all sites where an implementable detailed planning consent has been secured.

"Planning delays continue to erode the total number of active outlets being developed by the industry, hindering the drive to increase the volume of newly built homes delivered to the market.

"We are working hard to increase our active outlet numbers towards 400 by the end of 2016 and will continue to focus on increasing our output to meet market demand. The Group has continued to invest in high quality new land in support of its future growth.

"Growing the business as market conditions allow while exercising capital discipline through the cycle is at the heart of the Group’s strategy launched in early 2012.

"Since the launch of the new strategy the group has delivered a 56 per cent increase in new homes completed, invested more than £2,200 million in new land, and opened 812 new development sites.

"The Group is in a strong position to continue to make good progress over future periods."