Taylor Wimpey Shares Boost Confidence In Property Sector

Written by Editorial Team

10 July 2009 / by Rachael Stiles

Shares in the house builder Taylor Wimpey rallied this week, causing customers at TD Waterhouse share dealing to cash in.

The property market received a confidence boost when Taylor Wimpey revealed a more stable outlook for the housing sector, announcing a £971million increase in its current order book.

Taylor Wimpey took fourth position in TD Waterhouse’s top ten sells on the back of its rise in share price, building hopes of a revival in the property market, but Angus Rigby, chief executive officer at TD Waterhouse, points out that this week also saw the release of the latest Halifax House Price Index, which revealed a 0.5 per cent fall in average property prices for June.

Mr Rigby said that Halifax’s index “serves as a timely reminder that there is still uncertainty in the market and we may not be out of the woods quite yet.”

Meanwhile, Barclays shares were knocked off the top ten buys table, and has also fallen out of the most popular buys within the banking sector for the first time in 2009, as investors chose to cash in. However, it remained the most popular stock sold by TD Waterhouse share dealing customers this week, accounting for more than a third of the top ten sells.

Commenting on Barclays’ domination of banking sells, Mr Rigby said that “customers may have been looking to cash-in on the bank’s rising share price during a week of volatility.”

Barclays shares plummeted at the beginning of the week following the sale of 52.7 billion yen of three-year samurai bonds, which do not have a government guarantee, and mark the first issue from a genuine private firm since the collapse of Lehman brothers. But, Barclays shares picked up when it announced that its Israeli unit has hired new traders and salespeople, boosting confidence and causing investors to cash in.

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group continued to dominate the top ten buys, joining Taylor Wimpey in second and third place respectively, and also remained at the most bought shares, with Lloyds Banking Group taking the top spot.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd