A Year In The Housing Market

Back in June, when I returned to work after a spell on furlough, I wrote a blog about how the housing market was beginning to wake up after the turbulent months of the first lockdown. There were suggestions then that larger properties and rural locations would become more popular as home working became much more ‘the norm’ – I wonder if this prediction has turned out to be correct?
In July I wrote about the tentative steps the nation was taking towards more of a ‘normal life’ – being able to go on holiday or have a drink at the pub, and also thinking again about moving house. The ‘virtual tour’ was coming into its own.
In August the blog talked about the rise in house prices as the bottleneck caused by lockdown eased and the housing market was stimulated by the Stamp Duty Holiday – eerily we were also being warned of a resurgence of coronavirus over the winter. November, however, saw a ‘mini boom’ in the housing market, but the storm clouds remained with concern that the ‘second wave’ could take its toll.
In light of this then, the latest housing news is particularly good. According to the Winkworth West End Newsletter there has been record activity in new listings and sales agreed in the UK since last summer. Their view is that there is more interest in larger properties, which is where there has been the biggest increase in prices. Could this be due to a belief that home working will be much more likely going forward? It seems quite possible that those predictions from last year were correct.
The Stamp Duty Holiday extension is keeping momentum going, along with a new 5% deposit scheme with 95% mortgages guaranteed by the Government. This scheme covers properties valued up to £600,000 and is available to all so will help both first time buyers and those wanting to ‘upsize’. So, a timely reminder then, if you are buying a property with possible structural issues, SER are here to offer you a service that is second to none.