The UK’s competition watchdog is extending by five months its investigation into potential market collusion by housebuilders.
An update by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday (10 January) revealed it was looking further into whether seven firms “may have exchanged competitively sensitive information”.
It will now take until May 2025 to gather additional evidence and analyse its findings.
The CMA announced its probe into “suspected anti-competitive conduct by housebuilders” last February under Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998.
Its initial investigation concluded last month.
The latest update takes into account Barratt’s acquisition of Redrow, which was completed last October.
The housebuilders being investigated are:
- Barratt Redrow plc and its group companies
- Bellway plc and its group companies
- The Berkeley Group plc and its group companies
- Bloor Homes Ltd and its group companies
- Persimmon plc and its group companies
- Taylor Wimpey plc and its group companies
- Vistry Group plc and its group companies
However, the watchdog emphasised that it “has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement or infringements of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to any party under investigation”.
Construction News contacted all seven parent companies for comment.
When it launched the investigation last year, the CMA raised “fundamental concerns” on issues such as planning and market structures, based on a year-long study into competition in the housebuilding sector that concluded in February 2024.
It added that innovation in housebuilding was “lower than we might expect in a dynamic, well-functioning market” and warned that take-up of modern methods of construction had been “slow”.
The CMA is conducting other construction investigations.
In December, the CMA revealed it had raided offices after opening an investigation into suspected bid rigging on school roofing contracts.
The watchdog revealed it had “reason to suspect” that firms providing roofing and construction services had colluded to fix bids for work funded through the Department for Education.
Construction is among the sectors most investigated for potential breaches of competition law, according to the CMA.
