Dividend payments by U.K. homebuilders will nearly double in size this year, according to financial information provider Markit, as an increasingly buoyant housing market feeds through into better returns for shareholders.
Markit forecasted dividend payments for FTSE350 homebuilders will hit £285 million ($443 million), up from £150 million in 2012, with Barratt and Redrow due to resume dividend payments, and Bellway, Bovis Homes and Berkeley Group expected to boost payouts.
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"Payout dividends are something they (homebuilders) are doing in great size," said William Duff Gordon, research director at Markit.
"They would not be the only companies using their cash pile to pay out right now. It is a conventional view that you either do a share buyback or you a do a dividend hike if you are doing well."
He added that homebuilders could also be seeking to reward shareholders for being "quite patient".
"Their shares have risen a lot, but that has been quite recently and they were obviously quite badly hit during the credit crisis," Duff Gordon said.
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