HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon has seen an improvement in orders after a sluggish opening to the year.

Orders at the start of 2011 of £565m were down on the previous January level of £638m, cue to fears over the Government’s austerity measures and the severe weather conditions in November and December.

However, since then, sales have improved with the total value of new sales reservations in the year to date, from January 1, up by 12%.

The group’s order book, including legal completions already sealed this year, now stands at a similar level to last year at £1.14bn.

Visitor levels to development sites, including projects in Chester, Warrington, Sefton and Skelmersdale, are “encouraging” and cancellation rates remain low, at around 16%.

The board said it hopes to complete a similar number of new home sales this year compared with 2010, but with a rise in volume in the second half.

Debts have been cut with the pre-payment last month of £136.4m of loan notes which will result in finance cost savings.

And at the start of April the group concluded a new five year £300m revolving credit facility, which it said was “substantially over subscribed” by lenders.

“Receiving such strong support from our long term relationship banks places us in an excellent position,” today’s statement said.

It added: “Recent Government initiatives announced in the Budget in respect of planning changes and support for first time buyers are helpful and, while an improvement in mortgage supply would improve market conditions, we are operating successfully at the current levels of activity.”

Liverpool stockbroker Panmure Gordon welcomed the “confident” start to Persimmon’s 2011 financial year.

“In our view, as one of the highest quality stocks in the sector, the group is well placed to deal with a range of market conditions.

“Given the early stage of the year, we maintain our forecasts, but believe that risk lies on the upside. We reiterate our ‘Buy’ recommendation and 505p (per share) target price.”