Building Homes Datafile

Housing Market Activity
The year 2000 saw marginally less activity than 1999. New build registrations were down 2% from 159 319 to 155 564 and completions were down from 157 078 to 151 920 (3%). New build average daily sales were 528, down 2% from 538 in 1999.

THE BUSINESS

Stockwatch
Fairview Holdings has announced support for a £307m bid after the cash offer for the company was raised for a second time, from 175p to 180p, to win a stake totalling 36.9%. The bid price has been forced up by a strong defence of the company's value by the two independent directors. The offer is being made by a newly created company, General London Constructors, which is backed by development capital group 3i and Uberior, an arm of the Bank of Scotland. The buyout team is headed by Denis Cope. Persimmon has announced forward sales 15% higher than last year. Volumes rose 7% and average prices 8% but the traditional pattern of sales changed with a quieter-than-usual midsummer period followed by good sales volumes in October and November. Analysts forecast a pre-tax profit of around £100m for 2000, up from £81.6m in 1999. First half profits rose 36% to £48.5m on turnover 11% higher at £362m. Meanwhile, Berkeley Group reported a 24% rise in pre-tax profit to £75m in the six months to October 31. But George Wimpey's merged McLean Wimpey Homes predicts first half performance is likely to be below that of 2000 with planning delays leading to a lower number of sites at the start of this year. At Alfred McAlpine the average selling price of its homes rose by around 18% last year to £133 800. Analysts predict further interest in the company, which recently rejected an approach worth 235p per share, in the light of the Bryant/Beazer merger.

Business Fact - background on UK housebuilders
Oxfordshire-based County Homes by Ambrosden Court Limited, which builds high quality individual homes designed by Anthony Rickett Partnership, is unusual for a homebuilder. The trading company, Ambrosden Court, is wholly owned by a registered charity - the Norman Collisson Foundation, established for the promotion, advancement and encouragement of surgical and medical studies and research. The company reports that its profits will enable continued funding of medical studies and the establishment of a chair of research at one of the Oxford hospitals.

THE TRENDS

White Goods Watch
Sales of Front loading automatic washing machines
Over the past year the market has seen a significant shift towards higher capacity, faster spin speeds and better energy usage according to consumer durable research compnay GfK Marketing. This partly refelcts the models on offer but the significant increases in take-up of the better performing models strongly suggests a consumer trend. Homebuilders, looking to provide specifications designed to attract buyers would be well advised to move to higher specification machines on the basis of this data. Machines with spin speeds of less than 900 rpm showed a fall of more than 30% and even the biggest volume sector of 900-1000 rpm, which accounts for more than 30% of all machines sold, saw a 3% fall year on year. Whereas the faster 1100-1200 spin speed sector recorded an above 30% increase. High spin speeds showed an even greater rise, albeit on smaller volumes - with 1200-1300 rpm model sales rising by 62% and 1400 rpm and higher rising by almost 80%. There has been a big increase in small capacity machines and a 42% increase in large capacity machines of over 5 kg. Class A (the most efficient) energy-saving machines have shown a 116% rise with class C and D machines falling by 14% and 75% respectively. Aaron Rattue of GfK Marketing comments: "Intense competition in a marketplace which is experiencing continually increasing pressure on margins has forced manufacturers to focus on offering consumers more features for their money. The UK consumer is more aware of product benefits and environmental issues than ever and this has been further improved by strong advertising."

Did you know?
The United Kingdom has registered more domain names than any other country outside of the US, and is followed by Canada and Korea.
(Source: Network Solutions)