Low interest rates, available lending and an active market means there’s never been a better time to move, says Jamie Minors.
Never did I think Ronan Keating’s ‘Life is a Rollercoaster’ would be used to describe the housing market in 2020.
We have gone from a housing boom January-March, to a worldwide pandemic and lockdown, leading to pandemonium for hundreds of thousands of home movers stuck in limbo and unsure when they would exchange or move in. The banks pulled their 90% loan to value products and the news portrayed a possible market crash.
Instead? We’ve had a surge of registered buyers, instructed sellers and have broken all previous company records, and we are not alone. As people reflected on their lives and wanted change (and still are doing this), the housing market has flooded, particularly in Norfolk.
In June alone, we booked nearly 1,500 viewings at Minors & Brady across our branches and sale agreed 156 properties!
The lenders are gaining confidence, with buyers able again to use just a 10pc deposit and the stamp duty holiday has been introduced, meaning buyers up to £500,000 could save £15,000 overnight on their stamp duty! So, why has the government done this if the housing market is so active?
Ultimately, it is to counteract job losses, which are inevitable. If the government ‘held the stamp duty card up their sleeve’ until needed, then the larger builders will lose confidence-landbank, and therefore tradesmen and many others directly linked to construction would suffer, having a domino effect on our economy and housing market. As such, a huge gasoline-fuelled fire has been lit and has energy to soar through October’s job losses and take us to the end of our stamp duty holiday to April 2021.
The truth is, nobody can predict what exactly will happen, but if you want to move to change your lifestyle for the better, then there has never been a better time to move due to low interest rates, available lending, an excitingly active market and a stamp duty holiday.
Get in touch today about your move via homes@minorsandbrady.co.uk or call us on 01603 783088 for a chat.
This column is sponsored by Minors & Brady.
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