Housebuilders will need more than bullish rhetoric to budge investors — the sector is priced for catastrophe. A rise in interest rates yesterday to a 13-year high and warnings that inflation could reach an eye-watering 11 per cent this year has caused the market to dig in its heels.
For Bellway, the prospect of home ownership being pushed further out of reach by a lack of affordability caused a sell-off that has left the shares trading at their lowest since September 2020. In fact, at just over five times forward earnings, the FTSE 250 constituent is priced almost as feebly as the day of the first lockdown and close to its cheapest in a decade.
That was only 24 hours after the housebuilder unveiled reservations
