The UK property market is booming, with annual house price growth accelerating to 8.4% in August the highest rate of growth for nearly seven years.
And there are plenty of ways for investors to profit from this trend:Zoopla(LSE: ZPLA),Rightmove(LSE: RMV),Foxtons(LSE: FOXT),Persimmon(LSE: PSN) andBarratt Developments(LSE: BDEV) are just five possibilities.
Online shopping
Property websites Zoopla and Rightmove are two companies that have seen profits surge as a result of the current property boom. Zoopla, for example, recently reported that itswebsites and mobile apps were seeing a record level of traffic, with 45.5m average monthly visits during the second quarter of the year, an increase of 34% year on year.
With levels of website traffic surging, Zooplas management remains confident that the group can hit the Citys full-year earnings targets set out for the company. The City currently expectsZoopla to report earnings per share of 6.8p this year, rising 31% to 8.9p next year.
Rightmove is also experiencing rapid growth. Current City forecasts expect Rightmoves pre-tax profit to jump 21% this year, followed by growth of 14% to 113m during 2015. Both Zoopla and Rightmove are benefiting from a strange phenomenon called property porn; essentially, the trend of people viewing homes with no intention to buy. This is frequently quoted as the reason why traffic to these sites is surging. During January of this year, visitors to Rightmoves website viewed a total 1.45 billion pages of property, making Rightmove one of the UKs top websites in general.
Agent fees
If youre not a fan of property porn then Foxtons offers an attractive alternative. Foxtons is Londons leading estate agent and has made a tremendous amount of money from the property boom in the capital.
Indeed, for the first six months of this year Foxtons pre-tax profit rose 57.1%, to 23.1m and revenue grew 16.2%, to 72.8m, driven by strong sales and mortgage-broking growth. However, the market reacted badly to these results, sending the companys shares down around 5% after their release.
Unfortunately, these declines could have something to do with the companys valuation, which could be too rich for some investors. Foxtons currently trades at a forward P/E of 14.6, although City analysts have a dividend yield of 4.7% pencilled in for this year, which is appealing.
Bricks and mortar
The third way to profit from the property boom is with the homebuilders.Persimmon and Barratt Developments are two of the sectors best picks.
Persimmon for example has become an income stock, as management seeks to return cash to investors following several years of solid performance. In total, the company is looking to return 1.9bn to investors, or around 6 per share. Some distributions have already taken place as the company paid two separate special dividends totalling 1.45 per share, or 442m, on 28 June 2013 and on 4 July 2014.
The third payment is scheduled for July 2015 and is expected to be around 0.95p per share, for a total of 290m. City analysts believe that these special payouts will equate to a dividend yield of7.4% for next year alone.
Barratt is also an income play. The company has just hiked its dividend by more than 300% to 10.3p per share, alongsidefull-year results. At present levels this payout is equal to a yield of 2.5%. However, like Persimmon, Barratts management has decided to offer investors several special dividends. Barratts special cash payment programme is expected to return 400m to shareholders over three years, with the first payment of 100m scheduled for November 2015.
The bottom line
There are plenty of ways to play the UK property boom but as always,I would strongly suggest that you do your own research before making any trading decision.
Choosing investments can be a time consuming process. So, to help the Motley Fool has put together this free, no obligation report, which reveals how you can change your life in just20 minutes a month.The report is designed to help you become one of the UK’sgrowing number of ‘surprise’ millionaires. It could help you create a portfolio that could bring you closer to financial freedom for life.
The report is only available for a limited time. Soclick hereto get your free copy today.
Hurry,this is somethingyou don’t want to miss.
Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.
