MARKET REPORT: Building shares falter as home value progress slows

A slowdown in house-price growth at the start of the year left builders on the back foot.

Prices rose by just 0.1 per cent on the month or 4.1 per cent year on year, lender Nationwide said yesterday.

That was down from 0.7 per cent month-on-month in December and fell short of forecasts of a 0.3 per cent rise.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner pointed out that the housing market continues to show resilience despite ongoing affordability pressures, which remain stretched.

On the FTSE 100, Taylor Wimpey shed 0.6 per cent, or 0.7p, to 120.25p, Barratt Redrow lost 0.9 per cent, or 4.3p, to 455.5p, and Berkeley Group fell in early trading, but managed to recover and close flat at 3882p.

It came as the wider blue-chip index ended January with a strong run, hitting record highs. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.3 per cent, or 27.08 points, to 8673.96, a peak. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 index ended ahead 0.7 per cent, or 145.41 points, at 20950.48, a near two-month high.

Struggle: House prices rose by just 0.1 per cent on the month or 4.1 per cent year on year, lender Nationwide said

High Street retailer Next was a top FTSE 100 riser, up 1.8 per cent, or 176p, to 9952p, as analysts at UBS upgraded the rating to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted their target price to 11,700p from 10,500p.

The Swiss bank’s analysts said they felt the company was at an inflection point when it comes to growth and valuation. But negative broker comment saw supermarket giant Sainsbury’s fall 1.5 per cent, or 3.8p, 254.4p after analysts at HSBC cut their rating to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.

And FTSE 100-listed insurer Admiral shed 0.2 per cent, or 4p, to 2703p, knocked by a downgrade to ‘reduce’ from ‘hold’ by analysts at Peel Hunt.

Away from the big caps, Tritax Big Box REIT added 2.4 per cent, or 3.4p, to 146.1p as the warehouses investor said it entered 2025 with growing confidence, after securing what it called one of the UK’s largest pre-lets of 2024.

Among the small caps, investment vehicle Alkemy Capital jumped 27.3 per cent, or 37.5p, to 175p as its Tees Valley Lithium unit is to team up with Veolia Water Technologies to support the development of its first lithium hydroxide refinery train.

And Tribal Group added 20.5 per cent, or 8p, to 47p as the educational software and services provider said it expects to report a ‘positive trading performance’ for 2024, with earnings and revenue ahead of current market expectations.

But Metals One slumped 41.2 per cent, or 0.18p, to 0.25p after it announced a fundraising plan that includes a £5m equity issue and a convertible loan.

The financing aims to support its mineral projects in Finland and Norway while providing working capital.

Immuno diagnostics developer Oncimmune dropped 18.9 per cent, or 2.35p, to 10.1p as it noted that, since the end of October, one potential contract was deferred into 2026, and one was removed from its pipeline. However, the firm still expects to report revenue of around £3m for its current financial year, a jump from the £1.2m seen a year earlier.