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Shares in all the UK’s major house builders experienced big falls today, as stock markets reacted to the shock result of yesterday’s general election.
High-end house builder Berkeley Homes experienced a 4.93% share price drop since morning trading started, and was one of the worst affected by the uncertainty brought about by the hung parliament – dropping to a three-month low at 3.055p a share.
The UK’s largest house builder, Barratt Developments, also witnessed a sharp price drop of 3.65%.
Others to have been significantly hit included Taylor Wimpey, which dropped by 4%, and Bovis Homes, which had fallen by 4.1% at the time of writing. Bellway dropped 3.1%; Redrow dropped 2.2%.
Mark Farmer, chief executive of Cast and author of the Farmer Review, said: “The result of a hung parliament casts further uncertainty over the UK and could not have happened at a worse time.
“From a housing and construction perspective, the loss of housing minister Gavin Barwell is disappointing as he appeared to have a good grasp of what is a very complex brief. What the next few weeks means generally for UK politics remains to be seen.
“The status of Brexit negotiations, commitments made in the Housing White Paper, the Industrial Strategy Green Paper and general approach to the construction industry as an instrument of policy are now all completely linked to the evolution of Tory party leadership and perhaps yet another general election to overcome the impasse of a hung parliament.
“Whichever parties eventually form the government, there needs to be a comprehensive industrial strategy and housing policy focused on both addressing skills shortages and increasing the UK’s structural capacity to deliver homes and infrastructure.”