The success of the Help to Buy scheme and a general improvement in consumer confidence have resulted in a surge of confidence in the industry according to Housebuilder’s annual SWOT analysis. However confidence is tempered by caution over challenges facing housebuilders, including the impact on the industry when Help to Buy finishes, labour and material shortages and the unresolved economic challenges in the Eurozone. <br><br>The annual analysis asks a panel of industry experts to vote on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for today’s housebuilding industry and to comment on the market. This year, the fifth annual analysis, the responses were the most positive yet recorded. <br><br>In his SWOT, Taylor Wimpey ceo Pete Redfern said: “There has been a measurable improvement in the UK housing market in the first six months of 2013 where we have seen increased consumer confidence, underpinned by both generally improved access to and affordability of mortgage finance and by the recent government measures.” The leading Strength of the industry, as revealed by this year’s poll, is its “Growth potential” while unsurprisingly the top Opportunity is “New mortgage products” which doubled its score on last year. <br><br>“The restricted mortgage market” has been the industry’s main Weakness …