Help to Buy: has it worked?
Half of the houses built by Persimmon last year were bought via the government’s Help-to-Buy scheme. But critics say the initiative has created a housing bubble and that housebuilders’ bumper profits are undeserved. Could this lead to an unwinding of the scheme?
Annual results from Persimmon (LSE: PSN) confirm it: Help-to-Buy has been a boon for the housebuilders. The FTSE 100 group’s profit per house has trebled since the scheme was introduced in 2013 and last year, return on average capital employed rose to almost 53%. That means that for every £1 invested, the company is making 53p back – an almost unheard-of figure. In 2012 (the year before the scheme was introduced), the group generated an…
Previous article Next article
