Housebuilder shares climb on positive house price data
It's been a rough ride for FTSE 100-listed housebuilders since the EU referendum – but today's house price data from Nationwide is helping the builders' share prices climb back to levels seen before the Brexit vote.
Nationwide said this morning house prices were up 0.6 per cent month-on-month in August, and 5.6 per cent year-on-year.
Berkeley Group was on of the top FTSE 100 risers after Nationwide shared the news, with its share price rising 2.93 per cent to 2,671p at time of writing.
Read more: House prices went up in August – but experts say the outlook is "cloudy"
Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments' share prices increased by 0.81 per cent to 161p and 1.60 per cent to 494p respectively. Persimmon's shares were up by 0.49 per cent, reaching 1,839p.
But the housebuilders have not recovered from the Brexit vote sell-off just yet.
Berkeley Group is particularly vulnerable; it emerged yesterday the company might be relegated from the FTSE 100 due to its share price falling by more than 30 per cent after the Brexit vote. The London Stock Exchange will announce its quarterly reshuffle after the close today.
David Cheetham, XTB market analyst, said: "After plunging over 30 per cent in the wake of the EU referendum, [Berkeley Group] has recouped some of its losses but judging by yesterday's prices this still meant the London-listed company was only the 112th biggest by market capitalisation.
"It would take a pretty remarkable recovery today to stave off the threat of moving out of the blue-chip index and into the mid-caps."
Construction materials company Travis Perkins' shares tell a similar story, and the company admitted that the Brexit vote had hurt its sales growth in July. By the close yesterday, the company's share price had fallen by just over 11 per cent since the nation decided to leave the EU.
