Shares in quoted housebuilders have been heading south in recent weeks amid signs that the housebuilding boom may be tailing off. Last week’s mini-reporting season was promising enough, but there was some caution over builders such as Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group with exposure to the prime London market.
Then there have been sales of shares by key figures in the industry, including veterans such as Tony Pidgley at Berkeley and Steve Morgan at Redrow. Should other investors be doing the same?
There is much in the full-year figures from Linden Homes, part of Galliford Try, to suggest so. The long-term drivers for the new housing market — a chronic undersupply of homes, good mortgage availability and government subsidy through Help to Buy —