FTSE 250 tumbles as housing and property stocks react to BoE hikes

The more UK-focused stocks of the FTSE 250 lurched lower after the Bank of England ramped up interest rates 50 basis points to 5.0%.

In morning trading before the decision was made, the mid-cap index had fallen around 100 points, but following the announcement it tumbled another 180 points.

Just an hour after the decision it was down 1.6% at 18,283, its lowest since 20 March.

The biggest mid-cap fallers were property developer British Land Company PLC (LON:BLND), down 6.4%; challenger bank Virgin Money (LON:VMUK), down 4.8%; and housebuilder Vistry Group (LON:VTYV), down 4.1%.

Several other housebuilders are among the big fallers, including Bellway PLC (LON:BWY), Redrow PLC (LON:RDW), Ibstock PLC and blue-chips, Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN), Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) and Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LON:BKGH), all down more than 3%.

Other real estate investors were also lurching lower, including Balanced Commercial Property Trust Ltd and LondonMetric (LON:LMPL).