Persimmon and Bovis, home builders, will be giving an update on the housing market this week.

 Investors will be listening closely to their reports. Persimmon reported a 20 per cent increase in sales for April and Bovis reported an 11 per cent rise for the same period. Persimmon’s new report is due today and Bovis is expected to report on Friday. The reports will give analysts an idea of the health of the UK property market.

A very downbeat picture of the market is the underlying tone being projected so far. The broker, Investec, added, "In our view, management of the quoted companies sounds more nervous in tone in conversation than is immediately apparent in the published statements."

When Balfour Beatty, building contractor, posts an update today, public sector spending cuts will likely be a discussion point. The broker Numis stated, "Trading is likely to be mixed - the UK is performing well, but likely to face pressures, while the US will be down this year as a function of a very strong performance in 2009 - but we believe that the group has a very strong trading platform, which should enable it to offset macro issues."

Consumer confidence will affect the market. Another big aspect in the health of the housing market is bank lending which is expected to tighten. New mortgage lending decreased last month while there was a slight increase in those being approved for remortgage. So while stability seems to have returned to the UK home construction market, reports will either confirm the trend is positive or that perhaps there could be more hard times to come.