One of Britain's biggest house builders has added its voice to the clamour of opinion presently suggesting that the housing market is continuing its climb out of recession. Persimmon, currently the UK's largest house builder by volume, has reported improved trading activity over the second half of this year compared to the same period in 2008, with forward sales also considerably stronger.

Market observers have identified an acceleration in Persimmon's building activity during 2009, in common with a number of other leading house builders. The York-based company also declared that prices had "held firm", although it admitted rising unemployment could cause problems in the months ahead. By the end of this year, Persimmon expects to have legally completed 9,000 properties, while reducing its debt levels of a year ago by around 60 per cent.

Other leading house builders have echoed Persimmon's optimistic sentiments recently. Earlier this week, Taylor Wimpey described the house building market as "significantly better", while the most recent trading update from Barratt also reported early signs of market stability. Group Chief Executive Mark Clare had this to say at the time: "During the last six months, the early signs of stability we saw at the start of 2009 in the new housing market have continued, underpinned by limited stock and improved  customer sentiment."