Persimmon has said that private homes sales in the third quarter of the year were 38% higher than in 2019. The firm said it was on course to build more than 8,000 homes in the second half of the year.

The housebuilder, which has benefitted from not having put any staff on furlough during the first lockdown, said in a trading update that it expected to be able to work through the second lockdown relatively unaffected, maintaining pre-covid build rates.

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