UK 04:18 Sunday, 25 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
As I am inherently unsociable, I have no idea why the guy up the road has spent a year failing to sell his house. The opening price gambit was ludicrously high but about six months ago pricing reality kicked in. I would be surprised if there was not at least one half-sensible offer over the summer, but mid-October is rarely a good time to be selling a house in a now-shabby housing market. Start again in spring 2024 would be my view…but what do I know?! Maybe the team at Barratt Developments (BDEV) can give us an experienced opinion?
If you want to speak to anyone in a pub about the housing market, then there are ten million people better qualified than me in the UK. After all, if I want a Coke Zero it is a lot cheaper to buy at a local supermarket and, with reference to house prices and the like, after we finish the rest of the 2023 price dump I reckon house punters can hope for a 0-2% per annum move over the rest of the decade. The smart thing to do with a house is to focus on owning it to live in. And, whilst some people might get a bit lucky living in one specific location rather than another, honestly you should not be perving over the Rightmove (RMV) website as there are so many better things in life to be doing. And that brings me to today’s full year numbers from Barratt Developments (BDEV).
When it is the last day of the month as well as the quarter and the first half of the year, I generally find most institutional investors are just fiddling around with their portfolios. After all, there is bound to be at least one important portfolio appraisal that be undertaken. It is no wonder that I read that certain loved-up mega caps are kicking around all-time highs, whilst some rather iffier selections have been quietly moved away from. It is all good fun!
As the CEO of Barratt Developments (BDEV) observed during the conference call earlier today, the company’s half year numbers showed a “very strong operational performance”. Compared to a year ago, total home completions rose by 6.9%, adjusted profits were up by 15.9%, return on capital employed was up to 29.6% and, whilst net cash fell just over 14%, it was still just shy of £970 million. Happy days then for a leading housebuilder with a market cap of just over £4.6 billion today? So why are the shares, which are up about 1% today as I write, down by more than 25% during the last year? Is it something to do with the “difficult housing market” also talked about?
It is always interesting times in the world’s financial markets, but sometimes it is more interesting than average. And as for sectors and stocks, Barratt Developments (BDEV) is one of the more fascinating names in the FTSE 100 at the moment given the obsession with the housing sector and the company’s over 50% share price fall year-to-date. And it is probably a good thing that I do not own the stock myself as it is down a further 5% this morning after publishing a trading update.
I am certain that there are a bunch of people who are excited that the latest house prices from Halifax showed a 0.4% increase in August, meaning (apparently) average UK house prices from this source were up 11.5% year-on-year. How pleasant statistically, but it is all looking in the past and what really matters, about the housing market and so much more in life, is what happens next. And that nicely brings us onto today’s full year numbers from Barratt Developments (BDEV).
Hello Share Grumblers. It becomes ever harder for a bull trader like myself to find possible winners as the Footsie drops further week by week. But there are some promising sectors out there. And those, despite reservations from Uncle Tom, look to me to include the house building game. Take Barratt Developments (BDEV) for example. It sold nearly 18,000 homes in its latest year.
If I had to bet, then I would say that Thursday is the busiest analytical day for any investor, analyst or fund manager. There is a different angle today however in a bunch of UK numbers: trading updates for the period ended 30th June, which are fully responded too in September. Such (future) excitement! First up is Barratt Developments (BDEV), the homebuilder whose shares I am sure many of you may own but I don’t think I ever have.
