By Emily Hawkins
Housebuilders shares rallied on Wednesday after reports Prime Minister Liz Truss is set to slash stamp duty in her mini-budget on Friday.
Truss is expected to announce a cut to stamp duty as a rabbit in the mini-budget, a report in The Times newspaper suggested.
The report, which suggested Truss intends the policy to fuel economic growth as households are increasingly cash-strapped in the face of historically high levels of inflation, sent construction firms’ shares surging.
Persimmon saw shares buoyed by more than four per cent in afternoon trading while Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey’s share prices also saw a near four per cent boost. Shares in Berkeley went up almost three per cent.
“Stamp duty is a disincentive to transact, so should improve market liquidity all things being equal,” Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at the investment bank Goodbody, said.
“For example, from the perspective of UK housebuilders, Berkeley Group is most positively impacted by this potential SDLT cut given its exposure towards higher-end properties relative to peers,” he added.
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