Housebuilder shares on the up following Rics update

Shares of Housebuilder rose on Thursday after new findings from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors predicted property sales to grow in the final months of 2023.

Taylor Wimpy And Barratt Developments Shares were up more than 2 percent this morning, but remain lower than a year ago.

Berkeley stocks are also up, rising 1.69 percent or 71.00p this morning to 4,269.00p, after rising about 8 percent over the past 12 months.

Online real estate portal Move right also saw its share price rise today, rising from 1.97 percent or 11p to 568.20p in early trading, cutting one-year losses to about 12 percent.

In today’s update from Rics, respondents said that while property prices, sales volumes and buyer demand remained weak in March, the sales outlook for the latter part of the year looks more optimistic.

In January, analysts at Liberum Capital said they expected a 28 percent rise in housing stocks based on their central argument that house prices in the UK are down about 5 percent this year.

Liberum analysts said in January: ‘We are at the bullish end of analysts’ forecasts as we do not expect homeowners or developers to become forced sellers, the market remains undersupplied and employment is expected to hold up well.’

Towards the end of last month, Liberum analysts remained bullish on the industry’s outlook, highlighting Bellway, Vistry and MJ Gleeson as their favorite picks.

In an update today for the half year ended March 31, real estate developer group Watkin Jones said it saw strong demand in the first half of fiscal 2023, adding that it expects to close some trades in the second half.

It said: ‘Performance in the first half was driven by our contractually secure forward sold developments that are in place.

“Project margins are in line with the updated guidance issued in January, with the exception of our plan in Exeter where the Group incurred certain additional costs following the liquidation of a contractor.”

Watkin Jones said the underlying rental housing market continued to perform well with both strong tenant demand and rental growth in the core sectors.

It added: ‘We see the appetite for term funds continue to recover and expect to close a number of trades in our H2. We currently have five schemes that are being formally offered or that we expect to appoint preferred bidders in the near future.

“As previously indicated, performance will be materially H2-weighted.”

The Aim-listed group said it had gross and net cash of around £83 million as of March 31, 2023, up from £45 million in the first half of 2022.

In September, Watkin Jones reported a ‘strong’ operating performance in the second half of the year as the company continued to perform in both its purpose-built student housing and build-to-rent development programs, but market volatility pushed its outlook down adjusted.

The group also cut jobs in the wake of the market turmoil caused by the mini budget in September.

Against the bullish stock price reaction of others in the industry following today’s update from Rics, Watkins Jones stock were down 3.51 percent or 3.37p this morning to 92.53p, after falling more than 64 percent in the past year.

The group’s interim results will be published on May 23.