Builders suffer £18 billion damage as City experts say sell, sell, sell

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Nearly £750 million, or 21%, was wiped off the value of Britain's largest builders today in the wake of the Taylor Wimpey disaster - taking total losses since January last year to a massive £18.4 billion.

The seven biggest listed builders are now worth just £2.8 billion compared with £21.2 billion in their pomp.

They faced a wave of downgrades today as analysts became more negative about the outlook. Panmure Gordon advised clients to sell Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Redrow and moved Persimmon and Bovis Homes from buy to hold.

Taylor Wimpey fell 30p, or 50%, to 30p, and Barratt Developments shed 151/2p, or 27%, to 411/4p despite hopes it is close to a deal with lenders to ease its debt burden. The pair have lost 94% and 97% respectively since early 2007.

Such has been the carnage in the sector that no housebuilder is left in the FTSE 100 index. In today's carnage, Persimmon, the last to lose its blue-chip status, fell 521/2p to 239p.

It came as a survey by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply showed the construction industry at its lowest ebb since Labour came to power. Its measure of activity, where 50 marks the cut off between boom and bust, fell to 38.8 in June from 43.9 the previous month dragged down by a record low of 25.6 among housebuilders.

Howard Archer of Global Insight said: "Housebuilders are being hit extremely hard as housing market activity and house prices crumble."