Housebuilders have suffered a brutal sell-off at the hands of investors, but not all have been equally punished. Berkeley shares might have lost almost 20 per cent of their value since the start of this year but that is a less severe decline than any of the other London-listed players. There is more merit in holding the shares over many rivals.
Berkeley has long been valued at a premium to the rest of the London-listed housebuilders. Why? The vast scale of its owned land bank is one reason and superior operating margins is another. A rich cash pile on its balance sheet is also reassuring to investors. Its niche as a brownfield developer and focus on London, where building up as well as out
