U.K. Homebuilders Stumble Over `Help-to-Buy' Worries: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of U.K. homebuilders were sent tumbling on Friday when a British real estate magazine reported the government could cancel its program to help first-time buyers onto the property ladder. The FTSE 350 Household Goods & Home Construction Index fell as much as 2 percent on the news, and with Reckitt Benckiser stripped out of the gauge -- the company is a large household goods supplier -- the declines were even more pronounced. Investors were only partially reassured by a government statement that the program’s review does not mean its cancellation.

--With assistance from Sharon Smyth and Jack Sidders

To contact the reporter on this story: Kasper Viita in London at kviita1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net.