Wednesday, 2 July 2008

The harder they fall...

I have curiously been watching property developers stocks melt like ice cubes on the Devils back over the last few weeks...

Taylor Wimpey had seen UK housing reservations drop 45% in the first half of the year and its share price was hammered in response, dropping by as much as 57%, or 34 pence, at one point to 26p! Redrow are well down on their annual high last year and shares in other housebuilders also suffered, with Barratt Developments down 30%, Persimmon 17.6% lower and Bellway dropping 9.4%.

Of course - I'm no expert? But talk around the campfire is gloomy years ahead for property, and those who are backing Eco-Towns are putting their bulldozers in reverse... Bring it on!

1 comment:

keithc said...

Also interesting is that Belway put in a merger bid for Redrow earlier this year.
At that time, Redrow had shown drops in profit over three years and their share-values were half Belway's. I would have thought that Belway would have pushed for a take-over.

The main attraction of Redrow was that they were carrying more potential housing stock than Belway.

I'm wondering if that "potential" included the eco-town?

Do I smell an (insider) done-deal?