The UK's housing sector is feeling the pinch of the Bank of England's relentless interest rate hikes, with the base rate last week hitting 5.25%, its highest level since April 2008.
Bellway PLC (LSE:BWY), one of the nation's leading housebuilders, has emerged as the latest casualty of this tightening monetary policy.
The Newcastle-based builder is contemplating significant structural changes, including the potential shuttering of its London partnerships and South Midlands divisions.
This restructuring could result in around 90 of its 3,000 employees facing redundancy.
The company attributes these measures to the prevailing market conditions, which have led to a deceleration in sales and a dip in housebuilding output.
Apart from the biting interest rates, the curtailment of the government's Help to Buy scheme in England is adding to the industry's woes.
Bellway's recent figures are telling: their reservation rate plummeted by nearly 25% in the four months leading to June, and its order book value shrank from £2.4 billion to £1.7 billion.
But it isn't alone in its struggles. Earlier this year, Taylor Wimpey sought to trim its workforce to save £20 million annually. Barratt Developments also indicated a 20% reduction in its 2024 housing output, while Berkeley forecast a 20% drop in its yearly sales.