On Monday, Britain’s homebuilders index hit a more than 11-year low on apprehensions that a weaker pound could lead to more rate hikes by the Bank of England, thereby potentially hurting house prices and demand. The homebuilders index fell 6 per cent to hit its lowest level since March 2013.
On Monday, the pound declined to a record low against the dollar and British bonds were slammed on concerns over the government’s fiscal plan, unleashing calls for the Bank of England to deliver an immediate rate hike to restore investor confidence.

Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW), Persimmon (LON:PSN), Berkeley Group (OTC:BKGFY) and Barratt dropped between 5.0 per cent and 7.5 per cent by 10:41 GMT, pushing them to the bottom of the FTSE 100. Notably, shares of Taylor Wimpey hit their lowest since 2014, Persimmon since 2016, and Barratt and Berkeley stocks since March 2020.

UK homebuilders, whose shares witnessed their worst times ever during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, have seen government support come and go over the last few years and have had to contend with several setbacks, including Brexit uncertainties and, more recently, a USD 5 billion bill, to remove dangerous cladding from buildings following a deadly 2017 London fire.

They got a boost last week after new British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said stamp duty, a tax on house purchases, would be cut. Last month, Taylor Wimpeyflagged a softer sales rate for July, fanning those concerns.