‘Boris bounce’ fuels rush to buy homes
BUYERS are flooding back on to the housing market fuelled by a post-Brexit “Boris bounce”.
One estate agent quipped: “There are so many buyers coming out of the ground, it’s like Watership Down meets Location, Location, Location.”
Lucy Pendleton, director of the London firm James Pendleton, added: “A Boris bounce is beyond doubt now. But with a Budget looming, Downing Street will have to keep a close eye on how the market’s new direction will affect firsttime buyers and young families.
“Confidence is key and it has been driven close to extinction since the Brexit vote. Now it’s everywhere.
“Even on a basic human level, clients are coming in smiling with an optimism that the industry has sincerely missed.”
But the surge in interest is driving up prices.Values are up on an annual, quarterly and monthly basis, said the UK’s biggest mortgage lender Halifax yesterday.
The cost of a typical three-bedroom semi rose by 4.1 per cent to £240,054 last month – up by nearly £10,000 from the £230,784 recorded a year ago, it said.
On a monthly basis house prices rose by 0.4 per cent and in the latest quarter to January house prices were 2.3 per cent higher than in the preceding three months. Halifax spokesman Russell Galley said: “We have seen a pick up in transactions with more buyer and seller activity consistent with a reduction in uncertainty in the UK economy.
“Looking ahead, we expect a moderate rate of house price growth over the course of the year.”
However, with the growth in rental costs accelerating, many first-time buyers will continue to face a significant challenge in raising necessary deposits, the data warns.
Anna Clare Harper, cofounder of property fund Anglo Residential, said: “Confidence has been low due to political uncertainty since the 2016 referendum.
“But January’s data suggests greater confidence, reflecting the Boris bounce and greater certainty around Brexit.
“It’s likely that the uptick in pricing is based on a release both of pent-up demand and supply.
“The data masks a fundamental shortage of properties priced at affordable levels in the places where people want and need to live, however.
“It also masks who is buying – more first-time buyers and fewer landlords.”
Demand is likely to continue to exceed the supply of properties for sale across the UK, with the subdued pace of new building also adding to upward price pressure.