As last month’s carefully-watched results season drew to a close, plcs including Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Bovis told a similar story of falling forward order books in 2008. Buyers were either holding back or being refused credit, including those who had already reserved and were later forced to cancel due to lenders withdrawing offers. Bovis – the last major builder to post 2007 results – reported that reservations had dropped by 20% on last year’s figure to 1,262 during the first part of the year to March 7. <br><br>Its revenues fell by 6% to £555.7 million during 2007. Persimmon’s tale was similar: its forward order book was down 19% during the early part of 2008, standing at £1.05 billion compared to £1.3 billion at the same time last year. Taylor Wimpey also reported that forward sales were down by 19% for 2008, and the group had been hard hit by write downs on US land and work in progress, which led to it posting a £19.5 million pre-tax loss for 2007. UK housing turnover fell by 3.7% to £3,998.8 million, and cancellation rates in the UK during the second half of 2007 were running above 30%. The current situation would …