BUZZ-UK housebuilders: interest rate fears take froth off sector

** Interest rate rise fears see UK housebuilders retreat from lofty levels as sector also comes into focus on day of Persimmon (Other OTC: PSMMF - news) 's FY results

** Thomson Reuters UK Homebuilding index hit record on Monday

** Persimmon top FTSE 100 faller, down 4.2 pct, with fellow blue-chip Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) 2.7 pct lower; among midcaps, Bovis Homes (LSE: BVS.L - news) , Bellway & Redrow all down over 2 pct

** British inflation pressures could pick up quickly & other factors could also mean an interest rate hike is needed "in the near future", a BoE (Shenzhen: 200725.SZ - news) policymaker said Tuesday, with one London-based trader partly blaming comments for sector weakness

** Persimmon posts broadly in line underlying pretax profit & says will pay out 95p/share to investors in April rather than July

** Liberum note disappointment more of a capital return not being advanced & say better value elsewhere in sector

** Investors drawn to housebuilders' impressive cash returns in low-return world driven by robust demand

** Numis points to Bellway (LSE: BWY.L - news) as alternative (Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 2015 P/NTAV 1.35x, PE 8x and yield 4.2% which is 3x covered) vs Persimmon (Dec 2015 P/NTAV of 2.44x, 11.4x PE and a yield of 5.7%) (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) :tricia.wright1@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net RM:sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)