History of Property Market Since August 2021

Following the expiration of the stamp duty holiday, the UK’s property boom appears to be coming to an end, as the number of available properties has reached a new low. Continue reading to learn more, including some of August’s most important headlines:

UK House Sales Fall Dramatically In July

 The data are in, and they show that house sales fell by a whopping 62% in July as thousands of buyers rushed to buy before the stamp duty holiday ended on June 30. Although the stamp duty holiday remains in place until the end of September, the threshold has been lowered significantly, with a maximum saving of £2,500 now available to buyers.

 Chancellor Rish Sunak came up with the plan to help the housing market during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. It has been widely praised as a success, with record price increases in some areas of the country as demand for new homes increased. Demand for new houses is predicted to remain strong, however, the picture will become clearer over the last few months of the year, with the stamp duty holiday and the furlough scheme for employees coming to a close at the end of September.

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 Putting a Seller’s Market on Housing

The number of homes on the market has decreased to its lowest level in over six years, and experts in the real estate industry anticipate that this trend will continue well into the new year. One in twenty homes sold during the past year as a result of the stamp duty holiday, and the number of buyers continues to far outnumber the number of homes for sale. This is especially good news for sellers because the buying frenzy has resulted in bidding wars between buyers, particularly on family homes with three or four bedrooms because of the shift in working patterns over the past 18 months that has caused buyers to seek more space. 

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Stamp Duty Holiday ‘Wasteful’ According To Think Tank

 While the Chancellor’s stamp duty holiday has largely been heralded as a success that has kept the housing market afloat, a leading think tank has concluded that it’s actually been ‘wasteful’ by the government.

 The report published by the Resolution Foundation claims that buyer demand, and not the stamp duty holiday has been the driving force behind the surge in house prices this year, fuelled by low interest rates and a shift in circumstances, with many buyers now working from home regularly, and looking for houses with more space.

 The report continues by stating that the government’s stamp duty holiday has, in fact, resulted in a loss of approximately £4.4 billion in taxes and is, as a result, “wasteful,” as they believe price increases would have occurred regardless due to increased buyer demand. Winchester has surpassed Oxford in the annual survey as the UK’s least affordable city for buyers, according to a Halifax report.
The average asking price for a house
in the Hampshire commuter city is currently £630,000, or 14 times the average earnings of buyers. Oxford is not too far behind when it comes to affordability. While the average asking price is lower at £487,000, average earnings are also lower, meaning that houses cost 12.4 times the average earnings for buyers.

 For the third year in a row, Northern Ireland’s Londonderry is the most affordable city, with homes costing 4.7 times the average buyer’s income. What is available for the average asking price in each region? A recent study by leading property website Rightmove has revealed what buyers can get for the average asking price in each region.

 Currently, the national average is £337,371, and London is unsurprisingly the most expensive city. In point of fact, an enormous £470,000 separates the capital from the North East, the region with the lowest prices. A three-bedroom Edwardian terraced house in West Ealing for £635,000 is currently the average asking price in the capital, according to the report. In the meantime, a contemporary Sunderland semi-detached house with three bedrooms can be yours for £165,000, which is the average asking price in the North East.