As the whole of England head into lockdown 2.0 – we take a look at what’s happening in the property market right now, to keep everyone up to date.
Although we are in Lockdown, we can’t help but notice that we have at least, on the whole, been given some reprieve in comparison to the first lockdown. With schools open, and the message that you should work from home ‘if you can’ – this has meant that many industries are still in operation, such as construction, manufacturing and transportation. This is of course good news as this directly affects the property market – you can still buy, let, rent and view potential property.
Mortgage holidays have been extended until at least the end of the current lockdown end date of December 2nd. This means that If you need further support you can speak to your current mortgage lender for help – however this is not to be taken lightly. It’s possible that after all of these months you may genuinely be feeling the pinch and might need this holiday, but if you can avoid it, then we would. The mortgage market is a challenge at the moment with the lending criteria being particularly difficult – taking mortgage holidays could create problems for future lending as many providers are asking if you have taken a break, and are choosing not to lend because of it.
We’ve also seen a move from Boris Johnson in which he has promised a scheme to allow first-time buyers to get a mortgage with just a 5% deposit, in an effort to turn ‘generation rent’ into ‘generation buy’. The thinking is most likely based on statistics showing that the public are most likely to vote tory if they are homeowners, so let’s turn as much of the UK into homeowners as possible! The challenge we have seen is that the more increased demand there is in the market, with limited supply, this has forced property prices to increase.
Will the market collapse with increased ‘Down Valuations’ happening? With such tight lending criteria – surveyors are being asked to down value property by up to 20% at the moment. If this continues to happen, it will be the trigger for either a house price correction, or a crash.
This year we have seen major names predicating falls on house prices to now all agreeing on an increase in prices, and all of these ‘predictions’ have been based on the headlines and everything going on the media.
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