WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE HOUSEBUILDING SECTOR?
CHRIS MILLINGTON | NUMIS
The housing sector, at such a low level of activity, is showing a remarkable level of resilience. If we don’t get an interest rate rise it is very unlikely that we will see a big onset of foresellers in the market — so if that is the case, I think pricing stays pretty stable and companies show quite big lifts in profits. I am quite upbeat on the sector.
MARK HUGHES | PANMURE GORDON
We are currently building a historically low level of new homes in the UK and therefore from a volume perspective, whilst I don’t see things taking off to any great degree, I think this is a perfectly sustainable level of output. We’ve been forecasting that house prices would fall by anything up to a couple of per cent this year.
ROBIN HARDY | PEEL HUNT
I think we are still fairly cautious on the market outlook …Housebuilders still produce a lot of their output in regional markets and certainly the RICS housing market survey yesterday suggests a bleak outlook for a lot of those areas…like the Midlands, where a lot of the housebuilding outlook is still produced.