With the Labour Party conference dominated by infighting and Brexit, the current Government bogged down with similar issues, it is time to celebrate the good news. Despite all the upheaval, the nation’s property market is proving to be remarkably resilient.
It is all too easy to be consumed by doom and gloom but it is quite remarkable that the property sector has managed to weather the recent storms and still be in a positive place. Rents and prices have gone up and down, depending on location, people still need and want to move home and more new homes are being built.
In the private rented sector demand is still there, indeed a new piece of research from buy to let lender Landbay shows that more than half of tenants in the sector don’t want to buy a home in the near future.
It would seem that whatever the Government does, homes are not going up fast enough to meet targets so renting a home is the option for many and the high deposits needed, particularly in London, benefits the PRS.
Research from Paragon also suggests that demand is growing with 29% of landlords reporting that it is rising or even booming, the highest number in almost a year and a reversal of a substantial drop recorded at the start of 2019.
Rents paid by tenants in the private rented sector in the UK rose by 1.3% in the 12 months to August 2019, unchanged since May 2019, the latest official data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) index shows.
Prices have also been doing well. Although they are falling in some parts of the country, all the major lender predicted a Brexit wait and see approach and that is what is happening. The next Brexit deadline is approaching and there are suggestions that there could be a boom afterwards.
We still don’t know if the UK will leave the European Union at the end of October, but a survey commissioned by Experience Invest suggests that when it comes to investment in the property market there could be a boom.
It found that while over half, some 55%, of real estate investors have paused their investment plans over the past six months as they await the outcome of Brexit, 52% are monitoring properties they want to purchase but are waiting to see if prices fluctuate as Brexit approaches.
They survey also found that 51% of respondents said they believe there will be a surge in activity within the property market after 31 October.
The market will see some kind of resurgence when the UK exits the EU, it is just a matter of how big and how extensive. It could be an exciting few months ahead with the real boom coming in the traditionally busy Spring Market in 2020.
Ray Clancy
Editor Property Wire
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