Industry reacts to latest Nationwide House Price Index as house price growth cools in January
The property industry reacts to the publication of the latest Nationwide House Price Index as house price growth cools in January.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:
“The party is nearly over where a stamp duty reprieve is concerned, but will homebuyers still be dancing when the music stops? While many have benefitted from the saving, many more are still waiting to complete and missing the deadline could cause a different sort of market chaos to that seen in recent months.
“There’s a strong possibility that a period of heightened instability is on the cards as the end of the stamp duty holiday causes a spike in sales falling through, while buyers also look to renegotiate terms having missed out on a stamp duty saving.
“This market wobble could result in a far more notable decline in house prices as the deck is reshuffled. However, the market is extremely resilient and so any correction is likely to be short lived before it finds its feet, once again.”
Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, James Forrester, commented:
“It seems as though UK property market endured a slight case of house price vertigo during the start of 2021, with a marginal decline month on month following the six year high seen in December.
“However, a 6.4% annual increase is nothing to be sniffed at, and given the wider context of the last year, is actually rather remarkable.
“Of course, we expect to see the wild ride spurred by the stamp duty holiday come to an end as we approach the deadline, and this cool in house price growth is likely to continue over the coming months.
“However, with the hopper still full to bursting with pending transactions, we are far from teetering on the cliff edge where market health is concerned and so any claims of a house price crash are, at best, greatly over-exaggerated.”
CEO of Keller Williams UK, Ben Taylor, commented:
“The current stamp duty holiday has already been hugely beneficial with 85% of homebuyers paying no stamp duty at all and the market already seeing upward of £817m saved.
“However, those hoping for an extension are likely to be disappointed as it looks extremely unlikely that the government will oblige.”
Group CEO of Enness Global Mortgages, Islay Robinson, commented:
“A notable tightening of the belt across the lending space has made it much harder for the average homebuyer to secure a mortgage, despite interest rates remaining extremely low.
“Without the additional motivation of a stamp duty holiday to drive them to transact, it’s very likely that this dwindling mortgage availability will cause transactional volume to decline during the second and third quarters of this year; cooling the rate of house price growth further in the process.
“Despite this, the market remains extremely attractive for those with stronger financial foundations beneath them and we expect to see a robust level of activity at the top end keep the overall market moving forward.”
Main article photograph courtesy of Pixabay
