Market snapshot: Burnham's massive boost for housebuilders

While oil prices and geopolitical events drive sentiment elsewhere, there's been some rare good news for UK housebuilders. ii's head of markets has the latest.

28th September 2026 08:34

by Richard Hunter from interactive investor

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Heading into the last few days of the quarter, markets remain in sombre mood, with broad inflationary concerns and the oil price continuing to egg each other on in pushing bond yields higher.

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As has been seen so often this year, the main US indices eked out a weekly gain, but hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict were dashed again with President Trump’s rejection of an Iranian ceasefire proposal.

In turn, the oil price moved higher once more, now nearing $108 per barrel, and Dow futures were lower in anticipation of the US market open today. The President appears to have decided that little progress is likely to be made until after the mid-term elections when, according to reports, there is the possibility of a renewed bombing campaign.

Quite apart from these developments, Treasury yields moved higher following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Barr as well as a hot PMI number. The odds of an October rate hike have now risen to about 65%, with the 10-year yield at levels not seen since 2007 and the 30-year since 2004. Rising commodity prices and deficit concerns are likely to keep the pressure on, while a raft of economic releases this week such as the Personal Consumption Expenditure index and non-farm payrolls could result in tensions continuing to simmer.

Despite the surrounding noise, the equity market has shown high levels of resilience, bolstered by a more recent appreciation of the AI trade generally. Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) added almost 13% last week on excitement surrounding its new AI agent Muse, while more broadly information technology stocks added more than 3%, ahead of what will be a crucial third-quarter reporting season that begins in earnest in the middle of next month.

The fractious relationship between the US and China has not been repaired, but their recent meeting has at least sown some seeds of détente. The countries have agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, in addition to which they will establish a communication channel for AI incidents, with more details of the negotiations expected later today.

In the meantime, the main indices remain close to record highs, and in the year to date the Dow Jones has added 7.8%, while gains of 13.1% and 16.5% for the S&P500 and Nasdaq respectively have reflected the resurgent AI investor optimism.

The FTSE100 opened higher despite some pressure on the likes of Fresnillo (LSE:FRES), Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV) and Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO) following weaker gold and copper prices. Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) was marked lower with Nasdaq futures currently pointing to a 1% decline at the open later, but some bargain hunting among retailers and the supermarkets was enough to keep the primary index in positive territory, consolidating a gain of 7.9% in the year so far.

Housebuilding was the standout sector though, with gains of almost 15% for Barratt Redrow (LSE:BTRW) in the premier index, and of up to 16% for the likes of Bellway (LSE:BWY), Vistry Group (LSE:VTY), Persimmon (LSE:PSN) and Taylor Wimpey (LSE:TW.) in the FTSE250.

The moves follow comments over the weekend that there would be a new scheme to help first-time buyers including a loan of around 20% of the value of the property. The Prime Minister is expected to add further colour at the Labour conference, with implementation timing and eligibility thresholds expected at next month's Autumn Budget. An additional boon came from the government announcement yesterday that plans were in place to simplify the takeover of empty homes by councils to provide them to those people most in need.

The housebuilding sector has been beleaguered by a raft of headwinds ranging from higher mortgage rates and strained affordability to a slow planning process for new homes, and these announcements have provided a rare and overdue relief rally for investors.

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