by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Inquiries about new homes are on the rise, according to Persimmon Homes.

The housebuilder, which now owns Maidstone-based Hillreed, said today it had made a positive start to 2013 with visitors to its developments up by 5% compared to last year.

Chris Heney, director for Persimmon Homes South East, said government schemes such as NewBuy and the recently announced Help to Buy schemes were supporting new home buyers in the region.

"Help to Buy is proving particularly popular and we're currently seeing incoming enquiries to our Persimmon Homes and sister-brands, Hillreed and Charles Church, websites increase by 30% compared to last year," he said.

Help to Buy is a government-backed 20% shared equity scheme for people buying new build homes.

Alongside this initiative, Persimmon is also working with the government to develop the Government Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is to be launched from January 1.

This scheme is expected to help lenders provide greater access to mortgage credit with smaller customer deposits at more affordable interest rates.

Persimmon's Kent developments include Waterside at The Bridge development in Dartford, and Iwade Meadows. More developments are in the pipeline in Edenbridge and Thanet.

Nationally, in the first 15 weeks of the year, the group's weekly private sales rate per site is aroiund 4% ahead of the same period in 2012. Total forward sales, including legal completions already achieved for the current year are 11% ahead of last year at £1.38 billion (2012: £1.24 billion).