Real Estate

Alternative Income REIT plc published its 2026 annual financial report and notice of annual general meeting on 29 October. For the year ended 30 June 2026, net asset value fell 0.4% to £67.0 million, or 83.27p per share, from 83.64p. EPRA net tangible assets …

Hongkong Land Holdings Limited published a set of board and committee changes on 29 October 2026. The central change is at the top of the board. Ian Hawksworth will become non-executive Chair with effect from 20 November 2026, representing Jardine Matheson Holdings. He succeeds …

First-time buyers are central to that picture. They are the entry point of the housing ladder, and a scheme designed to help them can, in theory, bring forward demand for the newer, lower-priced homes that builders sell. Investors had therefore been looking to the …

This explains why the Budget's housing detail mattered so much. A support scheme for first-time buyers could, in principle, broaden the pool of people able to purchase. Investors had hoped for a substantial and clearly funded plan. Instead they received a scheme that fell …

That pre-Budget strength is part of the story. Shares in the sector had edged up in anticipation, as investors hoped the Chancellor's package would include a decisive measure to support buyers. When the details arrived, the first-time buyer scheme proved a letdown: it lacked …

The FTSE 100 closed up 7.96 points, or about 0.1%, at 10,694.50. Among blue-chip members, Barratt Redrow (LSE:BTRW) carried the housebuilding pain, dropping 6.57%. Persimmon's decline instead weighed on the FTSE 250, which fell 0.3% to 24,639.26.

The reaction was sector-wide. Market reports said that the homebuilders index fell more than 6% after the Budget speech, the sector's biggest one-day drop since January 2025. Rival housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (LSE:TW.) dropped 7.3%, and Persimmon (LSE:PSN), now a FTSE 250 company, fell 6.9%. …