As the UK struggles to return to normality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the early signs seem positive for the housing market.
Mortgage brokers I’ve spoken to are upbeat about the number of enquiries they’re receiving now people are permitted to move.
It seems there is enough pent-up demand for the market to start moving again, without altering stamp duty.
Perhaps more people are also tired of their current homes, given they’ve spent more time stuck inside than planned.
However, once this pent-up demand is exercised you have to doubt whether the market will be as busy as before the pandemic for a while.
With COVID-19 causing some job losses, that will surely affect some people’s ability to buy, even though the signs are positive when it comes to the market’s recovery.
For those who want to invest again at least buy-to-let lenders are coming back into the fold and loosening restrictions, though some are still showing more caution than before the pandemic.
I’m told some lenders only accept 80% of a worker’s income who’s been furloughed, while they also exclude things like bonuses and top ups.
However, it seems like different lenders have their own policies.
If you want to buy, rather than worrying about how much you can borrow it’s probably a good time for the likes of mortgage brokers to earn their money by providing some advice.
Clearly the market is unlikely to be as competitive as we were expecting going into 2020.
But considering the pandemic’s huge impact on the world the UK housing market seems to be performing as well as we could have hoped.
Ryan Bembridge, Editor, PropertyWire
