Sharewatch: Bovis

Bovis, the UK housebuilder, followed its sector rivals in issuing a positive assessment of the housing market earlier this week. The group, which has seen its shares fall 32 per cent in two years, said it expected a slow but steady improvement as mortgage availability increased. Bovis is better placed than most of its rivals to re-enter the land buying market following its £59m equity raising earlier this year. It said this week that it was in the process of acquiring new sites. However, some analysts believe housebuilders are overvaluing their land and will be forced to go through another wave of writedowns. The company’s shares trade on a forward price to net asset value ratio of 0.79 times, or a discount of 21 per cent.