The housebuilding sector is so full of “sell” signals that if it were a bricks-and-mortar property it would be so riddled with cracks and dry rot that the residents would have to be evacuated.
Companies building residential properties are, to put it generously, under pressure on all sides. House prices will rise by only 1 per cent this year, according to the latest prediction from Nationwide. Halifax, the building society’s rival, also has noted that growth in transactions has slowed and that the number of mortgages approved for home purchases will be broadly flat until the end of the year. That means demand is lacklustre.
By other measures, such as figures from Rightmove, average asking prices are falling and interest rates are on the rise.