Buxton: It is far too early to call a UK housing boom

Old Mutual's Richard Buxton has warned investors in the housebuilding sector the UK is far from experiencing a housing boom.

UK equity funds, including Richard Watts's £1bn Old Mutual UK Mid Cap fund, have rushed to invest in housebuilders benefiting from the government's Help to Buy scheme. Shares in housebuilders Persimmon, Barratt, and Galliford Try are all up over 50% in the last year. However, Buxton (pictured), manager of the £500m Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, said talk of a boom is "absolutely premature". "It is not a housing boom - far from it - but the support measures the government is putting in place are beginning to happen," he said. "If you talk to the housebuilders, if you talk to the bank...