what effect will covid-19 have on the property market?
What a start to the year the housing market had, with the woes of Brexit and a general election firmly behind us the ever resilient UK property market began to show significant growth in the first quarter of the year.
What a start to the year the housing market had, with the woes of Brexit and a general election firmly behind us the ever resilient UK property market began to show significant growth in the first quarter of the year.
Nationwide building society issued its monthly house price index at the end of last week, showing a more than £3,000 surge in the average price of a home in Britain in March, the fastest pace for two years. But it stressed the figures did not take into account the lockdown in the market since then, and that 'housing market activity is now grinding to a halt'
As you can imagine it's a little to early to say exactly what is going to happen to the UK property market due to the current outbreak of COVID-19, but one thing is for sure that throughout the Brexit saga and the general election the property market has stayed strong locally in the Newton, Haydock & St.Helens area with prices slowly but surly still rising, showing true resilience in the property market.
In my personal opinion I think the property market is going to strongly mirror the rest of the economy, for now house sales and prices will be stagnant. But with technology advances and innovation in the industry ourselves and agents around the country are still able to conduct virtual viewings and keep the property market flowing, albeit at a slower rate for the time being.
I think that once we come out the other side of this terrible pandemic the housing market will once again flourish, with a lot of buyers and sellers currently holding off. I think they will return to the market with a bang and we will see a big increase of people wanting to buy and sell. Why do I think this? It's a good question and by analysing how the Chinese property market has made a quick recovery since coming out the other side I think we will follow suit.
Not only that but being in the industry I get to speak to buyers and sellers every day and people are still confident in the market. I know we have a list of vendors waiting to go to the market once we recover and the world once again starts to ‘normalize'.
Another great point to make is if you are looking for a mortgage there has never been a better time, rates are currently very low in fact the Bank of England cut the base rate to the lowest it has ever been. If you want to know what this means for your current mortgage, or are in the market for a property give one of our fantastic advisors a free call to discuss what they can do for you.
If you would like to chat about the current property climate or have any property questions don't hesitate to contact me on 01925 290290 or 01744 371371. I'm always keen to hear other opinions and share my advice on the property market.
We will get though this together and we will be stronger than ever.
Stay safe,
Jack Shukie.
Property Expert