It’s been another week of escalation – the number of coronavirus-linked deaths in the UK is 177 at the time of writing.
The one positive is the government is finally taking this outbreak more seriously, with the £350bn stimulus package being followed by increases to universal credit and housing benefit, while the Bank of England has cut the interest rate twice in as many weeks.
Banning evictions could hit some landlords in the pocket, especially if you already have unruly tenants, but I suppose radical times call for radical measures.
The move to close pubs and restaurants should hopefully limit the length of time we face economic gridlock, though a recession is inevitable.
For the property industry, being able to work remotely is now the name of the game.
Conducting viewings remotely or virtually will likely become more commonplace, as agents and landlords with that tech ready to go have an obvious advantage.
There will simply be less business to go around though.
People who planned to buy or sell are likely to put their plans on hold for a few months. While this is going to be difficult for those working in the sector, at least there should be some pent up demand once we are out of this crisis.
The world will be keeping an eye on China to see when and whether things return to normal there – that may give us some idea of how long this insufferable period of ‘self-isolation’ will go on for.
Should this drag on past the summer more businesses will cut their staff, while some could go under.
I thought mortgage broker Payam Azadi made some great points last week about the dangers facing many of the UK’s non-bank mortgage lenders. Landlords and developers could have less choice if some specialist lenders have to exit the market.
Hopefully this period is a blip, and 2020 won’t simply be the ‘year of the virus’ when we look back in years to come.
Ryan Bembridge, Editor, PropertyWire
