Housebuilders dominated the list of today’s biggest risers in the FTSE 100 and 250 indices today after the Bank of England announced that mortgage approvals have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Mortgage approvals exceeded initial forecasts, rising to 66,300 in July from just under 39,900 in June. Approvals are now only 10% below February’s high of 73,700 and are in line with the average before Covid-19 struck.
Following the news, some of the UK’s largest listed housebuilders enjoyed a boost on the markets.
Barratt Developments topped the list of the highest FTSE 100 risers, up 8.7% to 547.4p from 505p. This is despite the housebuilder today posting a 28% fall in revenue for the year ending 30 June, revealing its Covid-related costs reached £73.4m.
Taylor Wimpey was today’s second highest riser in the FTSE 100, up 7.14% to 126.05p. Persimmon followed close behind, enjoying a 5.64% boost to 2,695p. Berkeley Group moved up 4.7% to 4,723p.
On the FTSE 250 Index, Redrow was the second highest riser, with a 7.29% increase to 468p from 430p. Countryside Properties was up 5.5% to 333.6p, Bellway rose by 5.45% to 2,478p from 2,351p and Crest Nicholson was up 5.34% to 201.2p.
Hammerson’s recapitalisation, which introduces a variety of technicalities around how its market capitalisation is calculated and stock accounted for, meant the REIT’s share price rocketed by more than 500%.
The FTSE 100 ended up 1.35% on 5,940. The FTSE 250 rose by 0.57% to 17,704.
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