Bob the Builder. Can He Fix It? No, bluntly, he can’t, not for a little while anyway. The housebuilding industry is in the grip of forces outside its control. New home buyers, not sellers, are gaining the whip hand. Not even indefatigable Scoop, Muck and Dizzy can alter that unpalatable reality.

Redrow’s trading statement yesterday and equally downbeat reports in the past week from other large housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Bovis, reveal an anxious mood on the building sites of residential Middle Britain.

Potential customers are adopting that most frustrating of tactics to sellers – doing nothing. They are sitting on their hands and waiting – waiting to see if asking prices come down, waiting in the hopes of bigger and better perks like part exchange offers on existing homes, waiting to see if better mortgage offers come along. Visits to show homes are down. Sales volumes are falling. And selling prices are becalmed.

Redrow’s deteriorating sales figures are especially poignant because it operates at the cheap end of the market. Its Debut range of starter homes are priced on average at just £79,000 and targeted at young single occupiers trying to get a first foot on the housing ladder.

Housebuilders and their customers are waiting to see who blinks first. They have been here before. Three years ago there was a similar slowdown, which ended when the Bank of England cut interest rates, injecting a fresh bolt of electricity into the market. The builders are hoping for another such boost this autumn, although the Bank of England, which makes its interest rate decision today, is thought unlikely to oblige so soon and certainly doesn’t want to see the housing market pick up again.

Immigration, divorce and nimbyism are the three factors that have kept demand racing ahead of supply for years. But stretched affordability ratios, a new realism from mortgage lenders and the growing belief among buyers that patience, rather than a headlong rush to buy off-plan, will be rewarded, are strong forces now acting in the opposite direction. While Brits see US house prices in freefall, that psychology may take deeper root, even though the two markets are very different.

The stock market evidently believes not even an interest rate cut or two can save the industry from tougher times. Housebuilder shares have roughly halved since the spring peak with almost £9 billion wiped from their aggregate value.

Builders argue that they are in a better position than in the early 1990s, when the housing recession killed many off. Their borrowings are lower, cost control is better and they have more flexibility. Underpinned by valuable land banks, their shares are unlikely to suffer much more but they still face a couple of thin years for sales and profits.

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