Persimmon brought forward its dividend and pledged to increase building volumes after strong demand for new houses boosted its annual results, shrugging off fears of a slowing UK market.

The UK’s biggest listed housebuilder posted better than expected pre-tax profit of £475million in the year to December, a surge of 44 per cent.

Revenue rose 23 per cent to £2.6 billion, buoyed by a gradual improvement in the UK economy and increased mortgage lending, the company said on Tuesday.

Persimmon said that legal completions increased 17 per cent to 13,509, and the average selling price increased by 5.3 per cent to £190,533. This has pushed the rise in completions over the past two years to 36 per cent.

The Financial Times Limited 2015