Persimmon, the UK housebuilder, said today that it will cut 2,000 full and part-time jobs after reporting home completions had plunged by 31 per cent and revenue by 34 per cent in the first six months of this year.

It brings the sector's jobless toll to 4,500 so far this year.

In a trading statement for the six months to June, which Persimmon described as "the most challenging period in its recent history", it blamed "the reduced availability of mortgage funds and a reduction in consumer confidence" for the slump in interim sales to £1 billion.

The company will reduce its full-time headcount by 1,100 and its flexible workers by 900, cutting its total staff from 5,000 to 3,000.

The housebuilder also admitted that its profit margin had fallen from 20.8 per cent in the first half of last year to just 14 per cent in 2008.

Shares in Persimmon fell by 8.5 per cent to an eight-year low of 208.5p.

Only 18 months ago, Persimmon's shares were trading at a 10-year high of £15.19, giving the housebuilder a market value of £3.5 billion. Today, it is worth 86.4 per cent less at just £473.6 million.

Commenting on its decision to cut its workforce, the company said: "Due to the likelihood of the poorer market conditions continuing, we have taken further steps to restructure our business and reduce overheads to a level which is more appropriate to our medium-term expectations of annual new home sales volumes."

The jobless toll in the struggling housing and construction sectors has now hit 4,500 after Barratt, whose shares have plunged by 97 per cent since their peak in February 2007, last week cut 1,000 staff.

Taylor Wimpey, the UK's largest housebuilder by volume, last week said it was cutting 900 jobs and closing a third of its regional offices in a bid to cut costs in the face of a 45 per cent slump in reservations of new houses and a 33 per cent fall in completions.

Galliford Try, the construction group, also confirmed it was cutting 256 jobs in its housebuilding division in response to the weaker property market.

Ballymore, the residential and commercial developer, said it was cutting 50 jobs - more than 10 per cent of its workforce - as part of a management shake-up.

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