Neil Woodford is among the high-profile fund managers who have enjoyed a performance boost as the shares of UK housebuilders rose after the government announced it would extend its Help To Buy scheme.
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced £10bn of extra funding for the scheme at the Conservative party conference yesterday (2 October), sending the share prices of some of the UK's biggest property developers higher.
Mr Woodford has housebuilder Taylor Wimpey as the 12th largest holding in the £8.8bn Woodford Equity Income Fund, it is the fifth largest investment in the £800m Woodford Income Focus fund.
Taylor Whimpey's shares lept 2.5 per cent following the Chancellor's announcement, which should boost demand from house buyers.
Barratt Developments, another housebuilder, also saw its shares rise from £6.13p to £6.38p yesterday.
Barratt is the sixth largest investment in the Income Focus fund, a holding of 2.68 per cent, and is the 22nd largest holding in the Woodford Equity Income fund.
The share price gains will be a boost for Mr Woodford, whose Equity Income fund is the worst performer in the IA UK Equity Income sector over the past year.
His great rival Mark Barnett, who runs the £5bn Invesco Perpetual Income and £10.5bn Invesco Perpetual High Income Funds does not have any housebuilders among the top ten investments in his funds.
Other UK equity income managers are also a mixed bag when it comes to benefiting from the £10bn boost to the housing sector.
Adrian Frost, who runs the £6.4bn Artemis Income fund, has very little exposure to the sector, though he is invested in Berkely Homes, the shares of which rose modestly in the wake of the government announcement.
Vincent McEntegart, who runs the £400m Kames Diversified Income fund, is invested in Taylor Wimpey. He said demand for the houses remains strong and the yields paid by the company continues to be very attractive.
Clive Beagles, who runs the £3.3bn JO Hambro UK Equity Income fund, has no house builder shares among the top ten investments in the fund.
Andrew Jackson, who runs the £331m Miton UK Value Opportunities fund, has Bellway Homes as the third largest investment in his fund.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
