Overview
- Berkeley Group, which disclosed the shift on Wednesday, stopped purchasing new land except through joint ventures and its shares fell about 18%.
- The housebuilder said the US–Israel conflict with Iran has hurt confidence and could keep inflation and interest rates higher for longer.
- Management cited an unprecedented jump in costs and a new building safety regime that adds roughly a year between planning approval and breaking ground, reducing expected returns on fresh sites.
- The company will slow work on live projects to match current sales and the pace of approvals from the Building Safety Regulator.
- Berkeley kept guidance for about £450 million in pre‑tax profit this year and more than £1.4 billion through 2030, pointed to a landbank for 50,000 homes plus a 10,000‑home pipeline, and urged councils to apply the new Homes for London measures flexibly to unlock stalled schemes.