Top UK Property Stocks 2026: Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Rightmove

The top UK property stocks look cheap, and that is exactly the trap. Two of the three names investors reach for, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, carry Openbook's Capital Destroyer tag, with Reward Scores of 29 and 28 that sit in the bottom 1% of all stocks. The third, Rightmove, is the only one that screens as a Quality Compounder, with a Reward Score of 56 and the lowest Risk Score of the group. That split is the whole story. A simple valuation screen says buy the two builders on their single digit multiples. The Openbook model says the cheapness is earned, and points instead at the one company here that does not build a single house.

What each company does

Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey are FTSE 100 housebuilders, classed by Openbook under Consumer Cyclical. They buy land, build homes and sell them, so their profits track mortgage rates, planning rules and buyer confidence. Rightmove sits under Communication Services, not property, because it is a portal, not a builder. It runs the dominant UK property listings site and charges estate agents to advertise, a high margin toll that it collects whoever ends up selling the house. Persimmon adds a further twist by making its own bricks, tiles and timber frames, which gives it more control over build cost inflation than its rivals and a bias toward lower priced homes for first time buyers. Same headline theme, three very different businesses, and only one of them insulated from the swings in transaction volumes.

The Reward Score, the read

Persimmon scores 29 for reward, up 3 over the past month but still in the bottom 1% of stocks. The model rewards it only on valuation, where a forward P/E near 11 looks cheap. On the other three factors it is weak: earnings sit far below the 2021 peak, price momentum has been sharply negative with the shares below their 200 day average, and free cash flow is thin. Cheap on one factor cannot rescue a low score when growth, momentum and profitability all lag.

Taylor Wimpey scores 28, an almost identical profile with worse profitability. FY2025 revenue rose 13% to £3.84bn, but profit before tax fell 54% to £146.5m after £243.8m of cladding and Competition and Markets Authority charges, leaving a net margin near 2.6%. The shares fell around 31% in three months. Optically cheap, but the earnings behind the multiple have collapsed, and the model reads that as capital destruction rather than value.

Rightmove scores 56, the best of the three and the only Quality Compounder here. Profitability is the engine: an operating margin around 70%, with FY2025 revenue and profit both up 9% and average revenue per advertiser up 6%. The drag is momentum, with the shares down heavily from their 12 month high, and growth that is capped near term. Valuation now sits at a decade low multiple, which is why the reward reading holds up even after the sell-off.

The Risk Score, the read

None of the three is high risk on the model. Rightmove is lowest at 35, helped by a very low beta and a high margin, asset light model, though two metrics are flagged, likely reflecting reduced cash reserves after the buyback. Taylor Wimpey scores 45 and Persimmon 50, both moderate, with one metric flagged each.

The single risk that matters is different for the builders. It is not the balance sheet, since Taylor Wimpey ended 2025 with net cash near £343m. It is the dividend. Taylor Wimpey pays out roughly 7.5% of net assets regardless of profit, so the near 10% yield runs well ahead of earnings and is exposed to a further cut. Persimmon's 5.6% is covered around 1.2 times, a real distinction that the headline yields hide.

What the market is missing

The consensus trade is to buy the cheapest builder and collect the biggest yield. That is backwards on two counts. First, cheapness in this sector is a signal of weak growth, poor momentum and thin cash flow, not of hidden value, which is precisely what a bottom 1% Reward Score captures. Second, the biggest yield belongs to the weakest name. Taylor Wimpey's near 10% payout draws income investors toward the company least able to fund it, while Persimmon's covered 5.6% is the safer income even though it screens lower. The name the model actually rates, Rightmove, is the one most investors filter out because it is not a housebuilder at all. Its own June index recorded the biggest June fall in asking prices in 14 years, yet it still earns a portal margin whether prices rise or fall, which is the point value screens keep missing.

The analytical view

The scores tell a clear story. Rightmove is the only Quality Compounder of the three, and the 31 July half-year results are the test: agency ARPA and membership numbers will show whether the AI fear is real. Persimmon's yield is covered, even though the model sees little near-term reward in the shares. Taylor Wimpey is a Capital Destroyer on the model, and its near 10% headline yield is not covered by earnings. One sector, three very different profiles.