Persimmon increased sales volumes by 8% to 7,794 new home legal completions (2016: 7,238) during the period, with an average selling price which was 4% higher at £213,262 (2016: £205,762).

The strength of the market through the first half was reflected in the group’s average weekly private sales rate per site of 0.80, which was about 7% ahead year-on-year (2016: 0.75).

Persimmon legally completed 5,630 new homes (2016: 5,143), while its Charles Church business delivered 900 new homes in the period (2016: 973).

Mr Fairburn reported encouraging levels of interest through its websites and sales outlets through the quieter summer weeks. “We are looking forward to a good autumn sales season,” he said.

The value of forward sales, including legal completions from July 1, is now 15% stronger than at the same point last year at £2.005bn (2016: £1.747 billion).

Some 6,669 new homes sold forward into the private sale market (2016: 5,836) with an average selling price of about £231,500 (2016: £224,200).

However, the company admitted that resourcing sites with the required trade skills to meet the demands of build programmes remained a challenge.