KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

UK enjoys property sales boom amid Covid-19 pandemic

UK enjoys property sales boom amid Covid-19 pandemic

Britain’s real estate market defies predictions of a house price crash despite coronavirus crisis
Hard-to-sell homes are being snapped up by the hundred as Britain’s booming property market maintains a year-long breakneck sales record.

In areas of high demand, even the most knocked-about and idiosyncratic houses are spending just days on the market once buyers, desperate to grab something, see that predictions of a house price crash are proving off the mark.

“Homes that look like the last turkey in the Christmas shop window are flying off the shelves at the moment,” said property agent Henry Pryor.

While the property merry-go-round screeched to a temporary halt during the first lockdown early last year, the pause did not last. With sales barely slowing over the summer, the data is clear: along with technology, real estate has emerged as one of the pandemic’s boom sectors.

Andrew Wishart, property economist at consultants Capital Economics, said: “With the amount of secondhand stock on the market currently extremely limited, house prices could continue to surprise on the upside.”

There is always the possibility that places like Cornwall and towns along the south coast are in a bubble and prices are about to burst, said Pryor, “but the banks and local agents seem convinced that the momentum will keep prices on the up for a long time yet”.

Mortgage lender Nationwide said its measure of annual house price increases chalked up its second-biggest monthly rise in 15 years in August, putting to bed fears that the end of the government’s stamp duty tax break, which prompted a fall in the number of homes changing hands during July, would bring the market to a juddering halt.

Prices were up 11% on a year ago, said Nationwide, and remain about 13% above pre-pandemic levels, according to official data.

Adding to the feverish activity, which has seen some English agents adopt the well-worn Scottish system of sealed bids amid claims of gazumping, new home builders have battled steel and timber shortages and an exodus of staff following Brexit to construct new homes. Many have seen their profits soar.

Britain’s biggest homebuilder Barratt Developments reported a near doubling of profits over the last year to £812m on Thursday, and said viewing requests for new homes over the next six months were “strong”.

While homeowners may cheer rising prices, the charity Housing Justice said the boom encouraged private landlords to sell up and leave tenants looking for another place to live, and would only add to the longstanding problems facing homeless people and those in the private rented sector.

Wishart said the end of the furlough scheme on 30 September, which is expected to push unemployment higher, posed only a small risk to rising prices.

“The end of the repossessions ban and closure of a mortgage payment holiday scheme had “failed to trigger an increase in homeowner distress,” he said, adding that the only trap-door for prices was an interest rate rise by the Bank of England, which at the moment seems far in the distance.

In May 2020, it was a very different story. The first lockdown meant buyers could no longer view properties except online, sellers took their homes off the market and sales collapsed.

Two months later Rishi Sunak responded to calls for government support by extending the help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers and cutting stamp duty on homes worth less than £500,000.

Figures for August 2020 revealed a spectacular turnaround. Mortgage approvals jumped from 66,300 in July to 84,700, according to Bank of England figures, their highest level since October 2007.

Recent analysis of the government’s actions by the Resolution Foundation thinktank argued that the £4bn stamp duty subsidy was wasted on sparking a market to life that had already begun to recover and was always going to enjoy stellar growth.

It said ultra low interest rates, the demand for more spacious properties during the pandemic and the pent up savings of those kept in work by the furlough scheme was enough to spur buying activity without extra incentives from the Treasury.

“It’s true that when the first lockdown was eased, most property analysts were gloomy about the prospects for the market, thinking people would hunker down,” said Pryor. “But by June 2020 it was clear that the British obsession with location, location, location was alive and kicking, it was just they now wanted a different location.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×