Housebuilding – performance and outlook

Author: Knowledge Services

Last year the UK housebuilding sector performed strongly with average share prices rising by 43%. All subsectors seem to have recovered from the period following the Brexit vote in 2016. The strongest sector has been new-build housing, which enjoyed growth of 7% in the year to October 2017. Meanwhile repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) work grew by 9% for the period. Government policy, such as Help to Buy and changes to the planning system, have also helped to boost new housing output. However, the main barrier to expansion in housebuilding continues to be labour: the lack of skilled trades is predicted to limit volume growth to 4% to 6% annually. The FT reports on how slowing house-price growth and rising costs may start to put a squeeze on housebuilders’ profit margins.

Construction News, 12 January 2018, p35 (Lewis); Financial Times, 13-14 January 2018, p14

First appeared in Cutting Edge 17 January 2018