Towards the end of last year, I was delighted to be interviewed by London Property: The Home of Super Prime to discuss market impressions and expectations for 2023.
We discussed the estate of the property market in Central London, as well as one of my favorite subjects: the rental market and what I believe will happen to the property prices. If you are curious, the whole conversation is here: Conversation with London Property: Link
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The government’s announcement in mid-May that property viewings could recommence in England has enabled the comatose London property market to slowly come back to life….
As expected, there is speculation about how the property market will fare and what implications this lockdown will have on the wider economy, short, medium and long term. The reality is that no matter what people say, we are all in unchartered waters.
London is in lockdown but the housing market has still managed a strong start of the new year.
Currently, demand for property, especially outside Central London, continues to be strong and is seeing the biggest price surges.
The phone may not be ringing as much but Rightmove has reported visits to its site are up by 33%, inquiries to agents up 12%, and the numbers of actual sales are up 9% compared to January last year. Buyers are definitively more committed and efficient.
Amongst all the recent news about the property market, it has gone somehow unnoticed that the government is finally changing the medieval system of leasehold.
This feudal system of homeownership, which is very peculiar to the UK, dates back 1000 years and simply grants the buyer of a property that is a leasehold (mostly flats) the right to live in a property for 99 to 9999 years. Every year the lease goes down and the property eventually becomes less valuable.
Until now, if you buy a property with a lease that is shorter than 80ys old, you needed to enter into costly legal fees & other charges while negotiating a sum with the freeholder.
Yesterday, the UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak gave the Property Market some great news about the Stamp Duty Holiday Extension (till June 30th) and the Government backing 95% loans for First Time Buyers.
What does it mean for property prices? The property market certainly got a boost and activity levels have been the highest in years after the original Stamp Duty Holiday announcement last year. This is now likely to continue for a few more months. If you were thinking of buying, there is still time to take advantage of this saving.
Some people criticize that the Chancellor decided to ‘give away’ money to the Property Market, but in my opinion, doing so is acknowledging the important role property plays in the economy.
Both news will benefit buyers and would-be buyers, but also banks, real estate agents, solicitors, surveyors, interior designers, architects, etc. at a time that the economy certainly needs a boost.
Ps: Note that Stamp Duty will still increase for Non-Resident Buyers from April 1st. An extra 2% to the existing 3% surcharge.
