Liberum ups Crest Nicholson to ‘buy’ after share price weakness

Liberum noted the shares are down 19% since recent highs and said they are now offering "good upside" to its unchanged target price of 435p.

"We see an improving outlook for housebuilders as the market starts to discount a good outlook for 2022, and we believe fears over rates and building material cost availability have been overdone," it said.

The broker said Crest’s Capital Markets Day on Wednesday confirmed that significant progress has been made in the turnaround.

"Stabilisation has been achieved and management is confident of delivering significant margin improvement as new sites come through," it noted. "Management has set out a plan to grow, now that stabilisation has been achieved, moving into new areas in Yorkshire and East Anglia."