Iwona Hovenko, real estate analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, comments on updates from some of the UK's leading homebuilders and building-materials distributors.
UK housing prospects remain cautious for 2024.
Planning headwinds are slowing new-site openings, curbing volume growth, as lower orders exert a drag.
Bloomberg Intelligence suspects easing rates may drive better demand, however, with improvement on the horizon but no fireworks just yet.
Site openings may remain tough for some developers, with lower backlog a handicap.
Early updates from companies exposed to UK housing suggest a tentative improvement
Building-materials distributors Grafton and Travis Perkins have also sounded caution for the UK market, even though easing interest rates may help prop up demand.
Share prices of UK housing-exposed peers started to recover in late October amid signs of inflation easing, with the BOE's three straight hiking-cycle pauses helping reinforce improved confidence.
Berkeley and Grafton's prices remain the nearest to January 2021 levels, with Taylor Wimpey's slightly behind.
In contrast, Persimmon and Travis Perkins are both about 40-50% lower.
