Ahead of last week’s rise in the base rate, UK mortgage approvals hit a five-month high in June, according to data from the Bank of England, although it’s far from clear whether that demonstrates a nascent recovery is under way in the nation’s two-speed housing market. The market in second-hand properties is stagnating through a collapse in volumes, with the number of properties on estate agents’ books nearing record lows, while the sale of new homes continues to bubble up.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) doesn’t envisage the balance altering markedly through the remainder of the year, but it certainly provides an interesting backdrop for Bellway’s (BWY) trading update ahead of its October full-year results. The housebuilder’s shares were marked down initially, but retraced through the morning trading session, a possible reflection of profit-taking, although they’re trending down based on the 300- and 50-day moving averages, albeit 10 per cent adrift of the implied price based on their historic price/earnings multiple relative to peers.
