Shares in U.K. Homebuilders Slide After HSBC Downgrades Sector

  • Investing.com
  • Stock Market News
Shares in U.K. Homebuilders Slide After HSBC Downgrades Sector
Credit: © Reuters.

By Scott Kanowsky 

Investing.com -- Shares in U.K. homebuilders fell sharply on Friday after HSBC slashed its rating for the sector and warned of a widespread downturn in the country's housing market.

The bank's analysts predicted a "significant fall" in demand and prices for housing from the fourth quarter into 2023, citing a deteriorating macroeconomic outlook and a recent rise in mortgage rates to their highest level in six years.

HSBC expects demand to slide by 20% in the autumn, while home prices are predicted to slip by 7.5%. Profit before taxes at major British homebuilding firms are subsequently expected to drop by 43% from 2023 to 2024.

The brokerage also downgraded Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON: BKGH ) to "reduce" from "buy," while several of its rivals were lowered to "hold" from "buy."

Shares in Berkeley, as well as peers Barratt Developments (LON: BDEV ), Bellway PLC (LON: BWY ), Persimmon (LON: PSN ), and Taylor Wimpey (LON: TW ), all fell to near the bottom of the pan-European Stoxx 600 in European trading.

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search