Berkeley Group
90p Dividend payable this month
With the benefit of hindsight, the upsurge in the fortunes of the big housebuilders over the past couple of years should have been obvious. There was a unique combination of artificially low interest rates, rising consumer demand and a worsening housing shortage.
The question is how much longer that boom can continue. Last week, Foxton’s caused concern by indicating that, in London at least, prices were slowing down. This year shares in Berkeley, which has the strongest exposure of all to the London market, have underperformed the other housebuilders, such as Persimmon, Bellway and Barratt Developments, as the “London effect” went national and their own operations benefited.
However, as a recent note on the sector from Shore Capital’s