The Competition and Markets Authority’s closed probe into seven of Britain’s largest housebuilders has produced a follow-on claim before the Competition Appeal Tribunal worth up to £4.5 billion.
Mark McLaren, formerly parliamentary and legal affairs manager at Which?, is bringing the collective action on behalf of more than 700,000 buyers who purchased new-build homes in Great Britain between October 2015 and June 2026. The respondents are Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry Group, including its Countryside Partnerships division.
The CMA closed its investigation last year after the seven housebuilders agreed to pay £100 million into affordable housing programmes and accepted binding commitments not to exchange commercially sensitive information. No infringement finding was made.
McLaren’s claim now seeks to convert the CMA’s evidentiary groundwork, exchanges on pricing, viewing numbers and buyer incentives — into a quantified damages case, with compensation estimated at between £3,100 and £6,200 per affected household, totalling up to £4.5 billion.
McLaren is represented by Geradin Partners and Hausfeld as co-counsel. Hausfeld partner Scott Campbell said the collective action route exists because individual claims against housebuilders of this scale are not commercially viable for single homeowners. The case will test whether a CMA settlement that stopped short of a formal infringement finding can still support certification of an opt-out class before the CAT.
Competition and real estate practitioners advising housebuilders face an immediate certification question: does the CMA’s settlement evidence, absent a formal infringement finding, give the CAT enough to certify the class.
In-house teams at the seven respondents can expect disclosure requests covering the pricing and incentive data the CMA already examined, the relevant test is whether existing CMA compliance commitments extend to litigation hold obligations. Insurers and D&O providers carrying exposure to the listed housebuilders will start pricing in reserve risk well before certification is decided.
Certification is still pending, and the form it takes matters: opt-out would bind all 700,000 buyers by default, opt-in would require each to come forward. Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry Group have been approached for comment. The CAT’s timetable for that decision has not been published.
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