After an explosive start to the year, the housebuilding sector has slowed in recent months. Since equity markets bottomed in March, bricks and mortar – as measured by the UK Datastream home construction index – have lagged behind the wider market by 1 percentage point, with investors turning their attention to other cyclical stocks.

But with house prices having just recorded their third rise in four months (according to the Nationwide House Price Index) could the sector – which in spite of its recent underperformance is still up 25 per cent in the year to date – enjoy another run?