Consolidation in the housebuilding sector shows no signs of slowing. On Wednesday, Ben Bailey, the sector’s smallest company, appointed the investment bank NM Rothschild to conduct a strategic review, which could lead to the sale of the Yorkshire-based group.

Its decision to hoist the “for sale” sign came just weeks after Barratt Developments paid £2.2bn for Wilson Bowden, in the process leapfrogging Persimmon to become the UK’s biggest housebuilder by volume and a candidate for inclusion in the FTSE 100 this year.