It’s the word you’re probably sick of hearing. However, it will have enormous consequences for all of us, one way or another. One aspect of that is property prices and issues linked to property. So Moolr wanted to look at the question of how will Brexit affect the housing market?
Brexit Uncertainty
It is difficult to predict the effect of Brexit on the housing market when we still don’t know what sort of Brexit we are getting, if any. If the next vote is rejected by MPs. as expected, Theresa May has offered two further votes: one allowing MPs to rule out leaving the EU without a deal, and another allowing her to push back the Brexit date. The latter seems the most likely. The continued uncertainty will have effects on the property market.
How Will Brexit Affect The Housing Market? – Effect Of A No Deal Brexit
Financial experts are extremely worried about the effects of a no deal Brexit. In September last year Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that leaving the EU without a deal could send house prices tumbling by a third. More recently he commented that UK growth would be guaranteed to fall in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
There is already evidence that the property boom is slowing down. Whilst average prices continue to grow, the rate of growth has slowed down. This does not automatically mean it was due to Brexit, but there was a definite dip after the referendum,
How Will Brexit Affect The Housing Market? – House Sales
The referendum of 2016 did not have much of an impact on property sales figures. In fact a spike was caused by the introduction in April 2016 of a 3% stamp duty surcharge for buy-to-let investors. Also causing the spike was people buying second homes, with thousands rushing to buy just before the change came in. After a subsequent crash, numbers slowly rose again. Figure from HMRC show there were actually more house sales in January 2019 than in the same month the year before (99,830).
The Truth? No One Knows
As it stands, the only thing that’s clear is that nothing is clear, and it’s reasonable to have little idea whether now is the right time to buy, move, invest or remortgage. The best advice is probably to carry on as normal. In time, things will become clearer.
