Up 95% and 72% year over year! Is it too late to buy these explosive FTSE 100 stocks?

I just saw a list of the best ones FTSE 100 stocks in the last 12 months and two names completely blinded me.

I knew Rolls-Royce The share price had broken, of course. It has increased by 147% in one year. But the next two stars of growth passed me by. Have I left it too late to buy them today?

A house builder The Vistry Group (LSE: VTY) was the second best chip-chip, rocketing 95.38%. The main reason it slipped my radar was that it was listed FTSE 250 until the strength of the FTSE 100 in June.

Vistry Group is back!

Recent years have been tough for homebuilders, as inflation has driven up labor and materials costs, while rising mortgage rates have squeezed prices and demand. Most of the big house builders have completed a few buildings as a result, and the same goes for Vistry. It completed 16,118 homes last year, but that was a 5.4% decrease in 2022.

The board “target over 17,500 units” this year, and has a £4.6bn forward sales position of which £2.1bn is for 2024 delivery.

Vistry posted full-year adjusted operating profit of £487.9m, up 8.2% in 2022. Operating margins narrowed, from 14.5% to 12.1%.

Its 2022 position of £118.2m took a turn for the worse last year, but today's £88.8m debt doesn't worry me. The balance sheet looks strong. Vistry specializes in affordable housing and redevelopment. The sector is expected to flourish under the workforce.

Inevitably, the shares are overvalued, trading at 15.28 times training earnings. A promising idea seems to have great value. There are other prizes on the table though. The board recently launched a £55m share buyback, and is targeting £1bn of cash distributions to shareholders over the next three years.

Persimmon is back

The third largest FTSE 100 operator is another housebuilder Persimmon (LSE: PSN) also hit the FTSE 250 but bounced back in January this year. The price of Persimmon has increased by 72.62% in the last 12 months. Interestingly, it is down almost 40% in three years, which shows how volatile it has been.

I remember when the yield reached 20%, but that didn't last. Today, it has an average trailing yield of 3.55% but the fundamentals look strong.

Results for the half year to 30 June showed completions of new homes rose by 5% to 4,445, putting it on track to reach 10,500 over the full year, at the higher end of guidance.

Group revenue jumped 10.9% to £3.32bn, with average selling prices up 2.67% to £263,288. Persimmon has a net worth of £350.2m. At 20.7 times trailing earnings, it is more expensive than Vistry, which I would buy first.

Sadly, after such a strong run, I think I left it too late to buy either. They certainly cannot maintain this high speed. Also, there is a risk that the prospects for an increase in housing construction may be overstated as the workforce may struggle due to the necessary planning changes. However, there is a shortage of workers.

The important thing is that I already know about the real estate industry Taylor Wimpey. Its shares are up 51.6% in 12 months. That's not quite as good as Vistry and Persimmon, but I'll settle for that.