Housing market stalls as ‘fearmongering about budget’ hurts confidence Property House price growth in the UK has slowed and sales have dropped for the first time in two years as more buyers adopt a ‘wait and see’ strategy ahead of a tax-raising Budget next month. Zoopla found that the usual Christmas slowdown has “begun six to eight weeks early”, with buyer demand down eight per [...]
Bellway says fears of Autumn tax raid has hit housing demand Property Housebuider Bellway has said that uncertainty over possible tax changes in the upcoming UK budget has dampened demand for housing. Rumors of various property taxes that Rachel Reeves might introduce in this Autumn’s budget in an attempt to plug a £40bn gap in the nation’s finances while overhauling a complex system of levies and charges have been [...]
Brits shy away from buying houses as uncertainty over property tax increases Property Buyer inquiries and sales slipped in August, with ‘ongoing uncertainty’ putting the brakes on the UK’s housing market, according to new data. Agreed sales slipped sharply, with a net balance of 24 per cent of property professionals seeing transactions fall, up from a balance of 17 per cent the previous month, the Royal Institution of [...]
Vistry looks to ‘transformative’ government investment as profit drops July 10, 2025 Housebuilder Vistry has reported a sharp drop in profit but expects activity to pick up later in the year as the government’s affordable homes investment filters into the market. Vistry, which unseated Barratt as the UK’s biggest housebuilder last September, told markets that it expects adjusted operating profit to be £125m in the first half [...]
Watchdog probe to net £100m from listed housebuilders for affordable schemes July 9, 2025 A probe by the UK’s competition watchdog is likely to result in a collective £100m package from seven housebuilders for affordable housing schemes. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe, which looked into the anti-competitive practices of seven housing developers – Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry – was launched [...]
UK housing market: ‘Not fixed, but less broken’ June 12, 2025 Decades of underinvestment, underbuilding and overegulation have clobbered the housing market. The UK is now short about 4.3m homes, with the worst crisis in cities. Labour, which made solving that crisis a central mission of its first year in government, has made tracks to get Britain building again – reforming planning, trying to bridge the [...]
FTSE 100 flirts with record high but falters once more June 11, 2025 The FTSE 100 once more narrowly missed on a record closing high on Wednesday after faltering in the final moments of the trading session. The UK’s flagship index edged up 0.13 per cent to 8864.35p. This brought it just short of March’s record close of 8871.31p. Housebuilders topped the morning risers with Persimmon and Barratt [...]
Optimism on construction boom lifts housebuilder stocks June 11, 2025 Shares in the UK’s major housebuilders have all risen in the past five days as news of government investment buoys the chances of a construction market boom. Vistry and Crest, which have recently boosted their focus on affordable homes, were particular winners: Vistry has risen by more than 20 per cent since June 6, while [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Housing reform to pave way for GDP growth March 26, 2025 The government’s changes to housebuilding will result in a £6.8bn boost to GDP by 2029, according to OBR figures included in the Spring Statement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves called the forecast the “biggest ever” positive growth impact that the OBR has projected from a non-fiscal government policy. Changes to the UK’s housebuilding market were a cornerstone [...]