Next month, Jeremy Hunt is poised to deliver his much-anticipated Autumn Statement – something that many of today’s more ambivalent homebuyers, are waiting on the details of with baited breath.
According to reports, a string of measures are likely to be put in place to help breathe much-needed life back into the property market, including stamp duty and/or inheritance tax changes, an extension of the mortgage guarantee scheme, and potentially even a new first-time buyer ISA, designed to help boost saving potential.
In today’s higher interest rate environment, prospective buyers have been limited in the amount of money they can borrow, but in spite of the affordability challenges of late, recent data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicates that both buyer demand and new sales have improved slightly since August’s pause in interest rate hikes, and the slight drop in inflation which ensued.
This welcome flurry of activity might be owing as well, and in part, to the fact that for the first time since June, two year fixed mortgages have dropped below 6%, with lending giant Nationwide also set to follow suit with an offering of sub-5% deals in the not-too-distant future.
In addition to this changing policy landscape, challenges in the rental market (owing to the stark supply-demand disparity,) are making buying now an increasingly attractive proposition - even against the 2023 backdrop - and this might well signal the return of a much-needed buyer’s market, in the latter part of 2023 and Q1 of 2024.
Summary
Traditionally, January is always a period of flux for the property market, but experts predict tradition may be bucked in the next post-festive selling season, as the wave of new mortgages and inflationary interventions forges a crucial juncture: one which allows buying power and market confidence to find some all-important alignment, off the back of which any forecasted 'upturn' might have a chance of coming to fruition.
For more details on the current property market, or to register for more information, please contact Braxton Estate Agents on 01628 674234 or email property@braxtons.co.uk