Persimmon has written down the value of its land by £600 million after reassessing its view of the market and predicting second half year prices will fall twice as fast as predicted at its interims in August. The housebuilder envisaged then that the housebuilding market had bottomed out, but has since had its margins pushed tighter through further marketing and incentives to achieve sales. “The availability of mortgages has continued to be very restricted and cancellation rates have increased to about 35% over recent weeks due to these market uncertainties,” Persimmon added. But, Persimmon said trading results for the year were still expected to be “in line with expectations.” <br>