Many existing and potential homeowners are wondering whether to move now or delay their plans until they have a clearer picture of how long the pandemic will last.
Since the market reopened here in Scotland in June, people have flocked to estate agents to purchase a new home. Properties are going to closing date, achieving record offers overs and competition is fierce as pent up demand combined with government incentives and a re-evaluation of our priorities has resulted in a mini property boom.
The recent tax break announcement created a flurry of interest from buyers and gave an immediate boost to the housing market – according to The Telegraph, the lockdown resulted in £27bn of lost sales and buyers and sellers have been making up for this ever since.
The prime rural market has benefitted the most as people search for more space and better value. Buyers appear to be prioritising larger properties with more outside space, and they have re-evaluated the importance of proximity to transport links, local amenities and the ability the work from home.
According to Zoopla, agreed sales fell by 92% during lockdown. Buyer demand, which is measured by the number of property enquiries, has jumped to 46% above pre-lockdown levels with a significant rate of recovery.
The prime rural market has benefitted the most as people search for more space and better value. In July, asking prices reached a new high of £320,265 – a rise of £7,640 (Rightmove) and Zoopla has forecast price growth of between 2% and 3% by the end of the year. Here in Glasgow house prices were 2.3% higher in August compared to 2% in August 2019.
What is the outlook?
With few distressed sellers just now – which is usually what drives house prices down in a crisis – it appears that the property market is holding strong. This is due to job and payment retention schemes and the availability of mortgage holidays. In addition, the eviction ban is protecting tenants who can’t pay their rent.
At its peak, there were 1.9 million homeowners that took a mortgage repayment break – a sixth of all mortgaged homeowners. However, lenders have reported that only a small number of these requested an extension. If these people were to become forced sellers at the end of their mortgage break, but this would still not top pre pandemic property transactions. In addition, Hansen Lu, of Capital Economics, said that when the mortgage break scheme ends, regulatory changes mean that lenders’ own internal forbearance procedures will be more generous than they were ten years ago, and the impact will be reduced.
What’s more, according to the Bank of England, mortgage approvals reached a 13-year high in August as the rush to buy homes continued. The number of mortgages approved hit their highest level since October 2007 with a total of 84,700 mortgages approved in August, a 28% increase on the previous month’s total.
It’s a seller’s market, so the advice is to sell now and for buyers, there are still some exceptional mortgage deals available. Even with the strict guidelines surrounding house sales, people are still encouraged to go on house viewings especially as initially it can be done virtually as agents increasingly embrace technology. Although many buyers tried to negotiate discounts when the market reopened, agents instead are seeing competitive bidding. Estate Agency is still subjected to social distancing measures and a change in the way they conduct themselves with restrictions on viewings to one member of a household, a ban on open houses and vendors vacating the property during the measuring, photography and viewings. However, this doesn’t appear to have dampened appetite.
Talk to us at The Mortgage Hub on 01698 200050 if you would like to discuss your mortgage options and for general advice about the property market here in Scotland.