POLITICIANS and town planners must look to build better executive housing if they are to shake off the "call centre" reputation of the North-East, it was claimed yesterday.

A lack of prestigious homes means the region holds less appeal to management and executives from quality companies looking to invest long-term in the area, said the managing director of Persimmon Homes North East, Jeff Fairburn.

"There is a lack of executive housing in the North-East which is one of the problems in attracting business and industry to the North-East," said Mr Fairburn.

"We seem to be able to create jobs in call centres but we want ... good quality companies to invest in this region."

Speaking on the day that the Persimmon group - based in York - recorded record results, Mr Fairburn said that the new housing market, in general, was continuing to grow strongly.

He said: "Sales (in January) got off to a slightly slower start than last year but they have now picked up. They are marginally up on last year."

Persimmon's executive housing division, Charles Church, saw a marked improvement with an average selling price of £265,000.

Average house prices across the group were recorded at £140,000. Persimmon has an extensive portfolio of projects which will bring nearly 3,500 homes to the region in the foreseeable future.

A total of 2,000 properties are on the books at Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, 1,000 in Hartlepool, 170 at Seaham, east Durham, and a further 100 on the site of Stockton College which is moving to a new location.

The firm is engaged in a private finance initiative project to build homes at Bishop Auckland General Hospital, County Durham.

In addition, a regeneration scheme in Willington will bring 150 more units on the market.

The company is also working on two projects in Redcar - a scheme combining housing with leisure facilities at the Coultham enclosure and a regeneration exercise at The Courts.

Sales increased 16 per cent last year to £1,711m and pre-tax profit was up 42 per cent to £267.6m.

Earnings per share rose by 26.7 per cent to 67p.