Business newsline by Tony Seymour

Persimmon Homes is continuing to be very selective in its land purchasing policy. The York-based company - Britain's fourth-largest housebuilder - is concentrating on increasing its strategic land holdings, which rose by over 30 per cent to 6,223 acres of land during 1998. Chairman Duncan Davidson said: "We also increased the number of plots with planning consent in our ownership by 4,000 plots, and have a total of over 30,000 plots available for development.

"However, during 1998 there have been many examples of prices being paid for development land which Persimmon found impossible to justify."

His comments came as the York-based group posted a 20 per cent increase in profits to £60.5 million (1997: £50.5 million) for the year ended December 31, 1998, on £572.5 million turnover (£525.5 million).

"Our investment in work progress on our sites has risen as a result of a larger number of inner-city apartment developments and a greater proportion of brownfield sites, which require a much-higher level of expenditure in abnormal infrastructure."

He added: "Looking to the future, we brought into 1999 a ten per cent higher level of forward sales and the level of sales performance this year to date has been very promising."

Meanwhile, Yorkshire has proved to be the toughest market for Britain's biggest housebuilder George Wimpey, with very little inflation in house prices.

Scotland was "always stable", while the North-West was reasonable, but the real growth areas were in the South-East and South-West of England, according to Wimpey's chairman Joe Dwyer.

Building was being stifled across the UK by delays caused by local planning authorities, he stressed. "Procrastination and delays have almost become inherent in the system. There seems to be an anti-development bias in the country."

His comments came as Wimpey unveiled bumper profits for the year ended December 31, 1998, and said innovative American design techniques would pave the way for future growth. The group saw pre-tax profits jump from £63.1 million to £85.1 million on increased turnover of £1.4 billion (1997: £1.22 billion).

Regional director for Yorkshire, Trevor Thompson, said: "I am very confident in the market and also in our programme for Yorkshire. We are developing on prime locations where there is a proven demand for high-quality housing. We are aiming to open at least six new developments in the coming year with investment in the region expected to exceed £10 million."

Wimpey, based in Pudsey, aims to increase its market share and average selling prices in the coming year by focusing on detached and compact (terraced and semi-detached) properties. It also aims to increase its share of bespoke housing, such as that at Bishopthorpe, York.

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