Overview
- The collective claim was filed on Tuesday on behalf of more than 700,000 people who bought new‑build homes between October 2015 and 24 June 2026 and seeks aggregate damages of between £2.2bn and £4.5bn.
- Claimant Mark McLaren alleges the builders exchanged commercially sensitive information — including achieved prices, numbers of viewings and buyer incentives — that reduced competition and pushed up prices.
- The Competition and Markets Authority probed such information exchanges for two years and in October 2025 closed enforcement after the firms agreed to pay £100m into housing programmes and accept binding commitments without a formal finding of liability.
- Geradin Partners and Hausfeld are acting as co‑counsel with litigation funding from Burford Capital, and the case must be certified by the Competition Appeal Tribunal before it can proceed as a single collective action; shares in several housebuilders fell on the news.
- If certified, individual payouts are estimated at about £3,100–£6,200 each, but legal experts warn success is uncertain and any award could reshape how builders handle sensitive sales data and how regulators and consumers seek redress.