The Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 brought hard times to many sectors across the UK. Thankfully, the UK property market has escaped the worst of these troubles – instead finding itself experiencing the best growth rates for the past decade.
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The State of the Market
The most recent property survey conducted by Rightmove shows that the British property market is booming. While many industries have been hit hard by COVID-19, the property industry is booming, showing a 12% increase in properties sold compared to the same time last year. Properties of all kinds are becoming available on and quickly moving off the market, with nearly two-thirds of properties currently on agents’ books showing as “sale agreed”.
The London Market
London is no exception to the national trend. Up-and-coming areas like Croydon have seen increases of around 5% compared to the previous year. The one outlier is Westminster, which has seen its prices plummet by nearly 15%, but which still boasts an average property price of £1,272,309.
The rapid pace at which the market is currently moving may be at least partially explained by the government’s recent stamp duty holiday. Buyers rushed to complete on their purchases before the proposed deadline of March 31st 2021, only to be told in the next budget that this holiday would be extended until June 30th of the same year, when stamp duty will only apply to properties valued over £500,000. Between then and September 30th, stamp duty will only apply to properties valued over £250,000 before falling back to the normal rate of £125,000.
The stamp duty holiday means that buyers are snapping up more properties than ever, saving thousands of pounds while they do so.
The Importance of Coveyancing
While saving money on things like stamp duty is great, there are other costs associated with purchasing a new home, and some of them are things you shouldn’t scrimp on. If you’re looking to buy a home in the capitol, it’s vitally important that you get a survey done. If you need a building survey London is lucky to have many qualified conveyancing firms. A building survey will reveal any potential issues with a property you’re considering buying, meaning that you won’t find yourself paying too much money for a faulty property. If you want to learn more about building surveys, you can easily get information about the type of building survey London buyers need from https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/homebuyers-survey/home-buyers-survey-london.
With the market booming and the stamp duty holiday extended, now could be the perfect time to invest in a new home. Rightmove’s report shows they saw a daily average of over seven million visits to their site during February. This is an increase of 40% compared to this time last year. Not only that, the average number of potential buyers per property has seen an increase of 34%. Everyone else is thinking about where they really want to live, so why not consider doing the same?
