Property market remains buoyant in face of rising prices
Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on UK Monthly Property Transactions from HMRC, showing that the property market remains buoyant in the face of rising prices.
Key points from publication:
- The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of UKresidential transactions in March 2022 is 110,990, 36.2% lower than March 2021 and 18.2% higher than February 2022.
- The provisional non-seasonally adjusted total of UKresidential transactions during 2021 to 2022 (1,370,870) is the highest financial year total since 2007 to 2008.
- These figures are positively impacted by the stamp duty holiday and pent-up demand during the pandemic.
Helen Morrissey says:
“The UK property market remains buoyant with soaring prices and the cost-of-living squeeze yet to dampen people’s appetite for new homes.
“Comparisons with last year are tricky with the stamp duty holiday and the pandemic race for space causing a huge surge in activity but while the number of transactions is down on this time last year, it is still a massive 18% up on last month’s figure. Provisional figures for the 2021/22 tax year also show the highest financial year total since the pre-Financial Crisis property boom.
“How long the market can maintain this momentum remains to be seen as there are significant headwinds incoming. Sellers may be keen to put their homes on the market to capitalise on rising prices, but they may find there is less interest in the coming months with interest rates pushing up mortgage rates and people increasingly tightening their belts to deal with soaring bills.
“With more interest rate increases on the horizon and inflation showing no sign of letting up, the coming months could show would-be buyers looking to shelve potential home purchases until the financial outlook settles down.”
Kindly shared by Hargreaves Lansdown
Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay
