Housebuilder crisis: City watchdog to look at housebuilders

City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has voiced concerns about a deliberate attempt to undermine the housebuilders, after a third day of heavy selling of shares in the sector.

Persimmon, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey have seen hundreds of millions of pounds wiped off their values over the past few days.

The FSA said that it would be closely monitoring housebuilding firm, and it has already been in contact with several to establish if they should be filing statements to the stockmarket to explain their share price fall, or prove that the falls are justified, according to the Guardian.

Barratt was the first company to issue a rebuttal against speculation yesterday, confirming that it was on course to meet forecasts of about 18,300 house completions before 30 June.