As the stamp duty holiday continues to push demand, Azeem Salemohamed looks at April’s sales data for Sandra Davidson’s east London patch
Looking at the Rightmove stats for April 2021 is a little bit misleading. Comparing the number of properties on the market, sales agreed and detailed views with a year ago, means looking back to a time when the whole country was deep in the first lockdown.
Consequently, our patch saw 34 new listings in April 2020 compared to 426 this year, and 34 sales agreed against 307 in April 2021. Viewings, even online, had pretty much ground to a halt too, as people put property search on the back burner while they worried about the pandemic, their jobs and their futures.
In contrast, this April has seen unprecedented demand. The latest report from Zoopla talks about a 4% increase in house prices – astonishing when you consider we are in a recession with an economy propped up by debt.
Economically, we’ve not seen the true impact of coronavirus. We’ve still got people on furlough. Yet according to the Zoopla report, one in every 50 houses has been sold since the beginning of the year.
Buying and selling at the same time?
Here are 10 things that could go wrong, and often do go wrong, and what, if anything, you can do to avoid them.
Buying and selling at the same time?
Here are 10 things that could go wrong, and often do go wrong, and what, if anything, you can do to avoid them.
Our interpretation of this month’s stats is very much the same as for previous months – since the launch of the stamp duty holiday last summer, now extended to the end of June. If you’re wondering about selling, this is a great time to put your property on the market and cash in on the tax break. With demand at current levels, if you’re a second time buyer, you’re in a position to command a premium on your sale, and make things happen with your onwards purchase.
The interesting thing will be to see how the market develops over the coming months; once the stamp duty holiday comes to an end – if it’s not extended further. All I can say is, watch this space!
According to the Lloyds house price index, UK house prices grew in June for the first time since the start of the
Halifax has just announced that the average UK house price fell by 0.1% to £298.806 in May. This was largely unexpected, with many
Halifax has followed HSBC and First Direct in cutting fixed mortgage rates. Halifax reduced fixed mortgage rates by up to 0.25 percentage
