Claim alleges firms shared sensitive information, which led to higher prices for consumers
Seven of the UK’s largest housebuilders are facing a class action lawsuit over claims that consumers had to pay higher prices for new-build homes due to their alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
Mark McLaren, a former parliamentary and legal affairs manager at consumer association Which?, supported by legal firms Hausfeld and Geradin Partners, will file an opt-out competition damages claim on behalf of UK homebuyers who purchased new-build homes from the seven.
The claim will allege that the developers shared sensitive information, such as achieved selling prices, incentives offered to buyers and sales and reservation activity. This led them to charge higher prices for new-build homes.
The seven companies are Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, and Vistry Group. All of them have been contacted for comment.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) started investigating anticompetitive behaviour in the housebuilding market during 2024, but brought its probe to an end after agreeing a range of legally binding agreements with the housebuilders last July.
The developers agreed to pay a total of £100m to affordable housing programmes across the UK and made a commitment not to share certain types of information which could distort pricing.
The CMA did not make a ruling on whether there was an infringement of competition law, and specified that the agreement did not constitute an admission of wrongdoing from the developers.
But Patrick Teague, partner at Geradin Partners, said the CMA’s findings describe “frequent exchanges of competitively sensitive information relating to achieved prices, incentives, and sales and reservation activity”.
“This is the type of conduct that can distort competition and harm consumers,” he continued.
Mark McClaren said consumers needed to be confident that the housing market was “transparent and competitive” so that they were paying a “fair price…not an inflated one”.
“The CMA identified serious concerns about information-sharing between major housebuilders. That is why I am bringing this claim, which looks to ensure that UK homebuyers obtain compensation for harm suffered as a result of the housebuilders’ anti-competitive conduct,” he said.
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