<p>Persimmon and Hill have both given updates on the market, with the latter revealing record profits. </p> <p>Persimmon has reported a “steady improvement” in sales rates in Q1, potentially feeding through to year end completions towards the “top end” of its range but still significantly down.</p> <p>In a trading update for the first quarter of this year, the volume housebuilder said its net private sales rate per outlet had been 0.62, compared to the 0.30 seen in the challenging Q4 of last year. This is against 0.98 in Q1 2022. </p> <p>Persimmon commented that customer interest “remains good”, with sales rates and cancellation rates stable in recent weeks. But it added it was “too early to tell” if these would follow regular seasonal patterns for the rest of the year.</p> <p>Its completions in Q1 were 42% down on Q1 2022 to 1,136 homes, resulting from a 36% drop in forward sales at the start of 2023 year-on-year to £1 billion. </p> <p>The company’s forward sales position has since increased to £1.7 billion in response to Q1’s improved sales rate.</p> <p>It said that if sales continued at the levels seen, it would expect 2023 completions to be towards the high end …