UK Housing Market Pause - Not Collapse

The lurid and sometimes inaccurate headlines about the state of the UK property market are getting on my nerves.  We are in unchartered waters.  Brilliant people working in the property industry are being furloughed.  Mortgage products are being withdrawn and there is a lot of uncertainty.  All of that is true. But the housing market is still open for business.

Let’s consider some of the headlines.

The Guardian’s headline (28.04.2020) reports  Zoopla’s comments thus: ‘Sales of almost 400,000 homes stalled due to lockdown’.  You have to scroll down some way to find the words: ‘Despite the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic, there is little sign that people are being forced to pull out of purchases.’ and the fact that 4 in 5 purchases are still going ahead.

Another Guardian headline (06.04.2020) luridly stated that ‘UK house sales will collapse in 2020’.  Yet two lines into the article on a report by Knight Frank, it said: ‘But prices will fall by only 3% and will rebound next year’ and that Knight Frank ‘is not predicting a collapse in house prices’.

Yahoo reported on Rightmove data (20.04.2020), by saying that lockdown had triggered ‘a near collapse of the housing market’.  It is only half way into the article that they report the view of Rightmove’s director and housing market analyst saying that Rightmove does not expect significant price falls and there are signs that some parts of the market are holding up.

These are just three examples – I could go on. Positive news does not make such attention-grabbing headlines. But given the importance to the UK economy of the housing market, it is time that the media started to give a more balanced view.

The housing market represents a huge amount to UK plc. We are a property owing democracy.  I am no economist, so I will quote the Bank of England which reminds us that two thirds of households own the house they live in and half of these are still paying off their mortgage.  So, the housing market matters. It matters to all of us.  

I am not one to ignore the seriousness of the current situation but there is positive news to be found:

·         Interest rates are at an all-time low – so mortgage rates should stay low

·         Building control departments have been told to continue site inspections

·         People will still want to own property as it is considered to be a safe haven asset in challenging times

·         Sellers and buyers can still prepare to move

·         Government advice on home moving reminds us ‘there is no need to pull out of transactions’

Those conveyancers, solicitors, removal companies, surveyors and estate agents who have proved that they can embrace agile working, stay positive and are willing to progress matters will benefit when the market resumes. Of course, everything we do must be with the critical public health situation uppermost in our minds – but there are steps that we can all take to safely progress conveyancing transactions.

I am not suggesting sugar coating a complex and difficult time; but it is up to all of us who have any investment of any kind in the UK housing market to find the positives to report, to ensure that we do not talk down the market any further.  I hope that our headline writers take note.