Housebuilders' first-quarter effect
Here's how it works: in the first week of the year all you have to do is buy a selection of the UK's largest housebuilders and hold them for three months. At the end of March, phone your stockbroker or spread-betting company and close your positions but, most importantly, tell them to send you a cheque with your profits. It may sound simple, but if you had followed this trading strategy you would have made a profit in the first quarter of the year on no fewer than 28 of the past 33 years, netting an impressive 11.1 per cent average quarterly gain. There are eight housebuilders in the FTSE 250: Barratt Developments (BDEV), Bellway (BWY), Berkeley (BKG), Bovis (BVS), Galliford Try (GFRD), Redrow (RDW), Persimmon (PSN) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.)