The Government has unlocked the housing market and the sales and lettings agents are getting back to work. Advice on moving home, how to view a property and what agents should do has been published here.
Almost half of the questions I get at the moment is from people who have negotiated a deal and are moving towards exchange of contracts on their purchase and they’re reading that perhaps house prices may fall after the Pandemic. Time after time during the Live Q&A I did forContinue Reading
The Bank of England has issued a pretty bleak warning that the economy is heading towards the mother of all recessions. The Bank’s latest Financial Stability Report makes for somber reading. The Bank’s scenario was consistent with a 16% drop in house prices. One in seven mortgage holders has takenContinue Reading
Lock down has been extended for another three weeks but even then it seems difficult to work out what might happen to the housing market, to transaction volumes and to prices. In past crisis the market has at least ticked over but for now there are almost no transactions makingContinue Reading
Of course what everyone would like to know is “what will happen to house prices once this is over?”. On Twitter I find there are quite a few estate agents who would prefer not to speculate – one or two feel that it would be self-fulfilling to do so butContinue Reading
Government advice has been thin but consistent. If you have contracted to move then you can continue but it would be much better if you agreed with the the buyer or seller to postpone the completion until after the lockdown. If you haven’t then it would be better to wait.Continue Reading
Writing in The Sunday Times Carol Lewis has the unenviable task of trying to predict what might happen to the housing market during the Covid19 epidemic. As usual she has sought the views of experts like Lucian Cook at Savills and Liam Bailey at Knight Frank. She has also quotedContinue Reading
Reports in the Telegraph today suggests that property viewings are down by as much as 50%! According to the National Association of Estate Agents their members have “seen a marked reduction in viewings and enquiries, particularly in the last 10 days, with quite a rapid slowdown,” according to their chiefContinue Reading
The Law Society has issued advice to anyone either buying a property or who has exchanged contracts on a sale or purchase. Solicitors have raised questions which include; requests for properties being decontaminated refusal to vacate on completion because seller in isolation failure or disruption to parts of the bankingContinue Reading
Despite the advice not to gather together or of a health minister testing positive for Coronavirus this morning 600+ MP’s met to listen to the new Chancellor deliver his first Budget following the Conservatives Election victory last December. The headline will be “They’ve found the Magic Money Tree!”. How theyContinue Reading
Two sales agreed on one day – a first for me and three agreed in total this week! One was for clients who had been searching unsuccessfully for a year and who needed some confidence and focus. Another was for a property that had started off asking £1.65m last SeptemberContinue Reading