Government and Bank policies boost Persimmon as it enters 2021 August Graham, PA City Reporter 3 March 2021, 8:16 am Persimmon has kicked off 2021 on a better footing than last year as Government and Bank of England policies helped boost the housebuilder. The business, which revealed that pre-tax profits were down by a quarter to £783.8 million in 2020, said its average private weekly sales rates so far are 7% above last year’s levels. Meanwhile, forward sales are at £2.3 billion, up 15% year on year, due to low interest rates, the availability of mortgages and Government support. The Bank of England’s base rate was slashed to a record-low 0.1% last year in response to the pandemic.