{"id":697878,"date":"2026-01-15T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/697878\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:08:11","slug":"uk-housebuilder-taylor-wimpey-warns-of-muted-demand-construction-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/697878\/","title":{"rendered":"UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey warns of \u2018muted\u2019 demand | Construction industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey<\/a> has said demand is \u201cmuted\u201d despite improving affordability, particularly among first-time buyers, echoing a cautious outlook from the estate agents Foxtons and Savills.<\/p>\n

Jennie Daly, the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, said the government\u2019s recent planning changes<\/a> had resulted in \u201cincreased momentum in our recent planning permissions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, while affordability is slowly improving, demand continues to be muted \u2013 particularly among the important first-time buyer category \u2013 which will constrain overall sector output,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Shares in Taylor Wimpey fell 4.7% on Thursday morning, while Foxtons and Savills<\/a> were also down, 3.9% and 1.6% respectively.<\/p>\n

The builder\u2019s completions rose by 6% to 11,229 in 2025, including 2,220 affordable homes. The average selling price for a private home increased by 5.1% to \u00a3374,000, from \u00a3356,000.<\/p>\n

Taylor Wimpey anticipates a lower operating profit margin of 11% for 2025 versus 12.2% in 2024, and expects an even lower margin in 2026, with a smaller order book at the start of the year.<\/p>\n

This week, fellow housebuilder Persimmon reported stronger growth of 12% to 11,905 completions, while its average selling price increased by 4% to \u00a3278,000. However, it said it was \u201cnot expecting any material improvement in market conditions this year\u201d despite positive signs from Boxing Day, and recent reductions in mortgage rates.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Foxtons<\/a> reported a 2% drop in like-for-like revenues for property sales last year, blaming a slowdown in the market leading up to the 26 November budget, alongside broader economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n

The London estate agent\u2019s total revenues for 2025 rose by 5% to \u00a3172m, bolstered by lettings revenues and acquisitions such as the agent Cauldwell in Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n

Foxtons said its sales division had begun 2026 with a lower under-offer pipeline than in 2025 because of the \u201csignificant sales market disruption\u201d around the budget and a very strong comparative period last year, when buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax break before its expiry at the end of March.<\/p>\n

Savills said market uncertainty would \u201cremain elevated in 2026\u201d but added that strong pipelines, improving investor and occupier sentiment would support recovery across its core markets.<\/p>\n

The company, which now run by Simon Shaw, who replaced Mark Ridley as chief executive on 1 January, said the market recovery had stalled between April and June and into the third quarter of last year, as investors and occupiers digested the impact of US tariffs.<\/p>\n

The upmarket estate agent and property group added that in the UK, its largest market, heightened uncertainty around the budget had a similar dampening effect on the prime housing market.<\/p>\n

In mainland China, the market declined by more than 20% for a third year, prompting Savills to carry out further restructuring, also in Germany, resulting in a charge of up to \u00a330m for 2025.<\/p>\n

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors\u2019 monthly survey showed activity remained weak in December but expectations for sales volumes and prices in 2026 rose.<\/p>\n

Its head of market research and analysis, Tarrant Parsons, said: \u201cThe UK residential market remains in a prolonged soft patch, with December\u2019s survey recording a sixth consecutive month of negative momentum in buyer enquiries. That said, there are tentative signs of a shift in sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daly said she expected further progress with the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025<\/a> now in place, which should streamline decision-making and speed up planning consents.<\/p>\n

Among the changes are new powers for ministers to prevent applications being rejected<\/a> by local councils and a more limited role for the advisory body Natural England in minor applications. The government has been struggling to achieve its ambitious target to build 1.5m homes in England by the end of the parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has said demand is \u201cmuted\u201d despite improving affordability, particularly among first-time buyers, echoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-697878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115899747728978231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}