More than 700,000 people who bought new-build homes in Great Britain over the past nine years could be in line for compensation of up to £6,200 each — part of a potential £4.5bn class action lawsuit against seven of the country's biggest housebuilders.
The claim, brought by Mark McLaren, a former parliamentary and legal affairs manager at consumer group Which?, alleges that buyers paid inflated prices because the firms shared commercially sensitive information instead of competing fairly. It targets Barratt Redrow, Bellway, The Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, and Vistry Group — including its Countryside Partnerships division — and covers purchases made between October 2015 and 24 June this year.
“700,000 new-build homeowners could get up to £6,200 each in class action against big housebuilders”
McLaren is seeking to have the case certified by the Competition Appeal Tribunal, paving the way for a collective action that he says could deliver between £3,100 and £6,200 per affected household. “Buying a home is one of the biggest financial commitments most of us will make,” he said. “If, as seems to be the case, housebuilders shared sensitive pricing and sales information with one another instead of competing properly, homeowners across Great Britain may well have been left out of pocket as a result.”
The action follows an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into whether the builders exchanged details about pricing, property viewings and buyer incentives — such as upgraded kitchens or stamp duty contributions — for around two years until February 2024. The watchdog dropped further enforcement after the firms agreed to pay £100m into affordable housing programmes and made binding commitments to stop sharing information. The CMA did not rule on whether competition law had been broken.
Scott Campbell, a partner at Hausfeld, which is acting as co-counsel alongside Geradin Partners, said: “For most homeowners, bringing an individual claim simply isn’t realistic, as the cost and complexity put it out of reach. That’s why this collective action is so important. It provides a practical route for hundreds of thousands of consumers to seek compensation where they may otherwise have had no way of doing so.”
The claim now awaits a decision from the tribunal on whether it can proceed.