Fewer buyers are reserving new homes from the UK’s largest housing developers, in the clearest indication yet of a slowdown in the housing market.
“Trading since 1 July has definitely been more challenging,” said David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments, the UK’s largest housebuilder, which announced its full-year results on 8 September.
Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Vistry Group, which struck a £1.25bn deal to acquire rival housebuilder Countryside Partnerships last week, said: “Up until April, I think we were operating in an unsustainable market, with house prices rising too fast. Now we’re back to a historical norm,” he said.
He added: “The only thing that concerns me about the market at the moment is [developers’] share prices.”
