Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world came to a standstill. Economies were affected, businesses incurred losses, and almost every industry in the world suffered. The real estate industry in the UK was majorly impacted, especially since the UK government did not allow any real estate transactions during the first lockdown. As a result, real estate prices fluctuated, and buyers and investors, sellers, and real estate agents were uncertain of the future of the real estate market. As the lockdowns lifted and the economy started to pick up, the buyer’s confidence increased, and the real estate market started to bounce back. This brought one question to everyone’s mind, is now an excellent time to buy a house in London? As a potential buyer or investor, you need to consider the most important factors if you are thinking about buying a house in London in 2021.
Impact on stamp duty holiday
The government announced a stamp duty holiday in July 2020, a temporary suspension of the compulsory stamp duty until March 2021. Seeing the enormous success of the stamp duty holiday, the UK government decided to further extend the stamp duty holiday till September 2021. Due to the stamp duty holiday, buyers no longer had to pay any stamp duty taxes on property purchases amounting to £250,000. The stamp duty was drastically reduced on properties valued between £250,000 and £1.5 million. So, by buying a home in London in 2021, buyers will be able to save thousands and thousands of pounds and possibly get a great deal too. If you’ve been looking for houses for sale in Tewkesbury now might be a good time to make the most of the stamp duty holiday and make the most of a fruitful investment!
Change in buyer preference
As more and more people have started working from home, there has been a significant change in buyer preference. Earlier, buyers would look for properties in the centre of the city, as these properties were closer to their workplace. Now, as people have started working from home, buyers and homeowners are looking to move into bigger and better homes. Instead of living in the city centre, homeowners are looking to move into the suburbs and boroughs as the properties in those areas are more spacious and relatively more affordable like the properties for sale in Tewkesbury. Now, buyers are looking for spare bedrooms, garage spaces and outhouses that can be turned into home offices. Also, the demand for properties with attached gardens and terrace gardens increased. As the trend continues, the need for such properties will increase, both in the centre and the outskirts. For those looking for commercial properties in Tewkesbury now would be an excellent time to get in touch with a real estate agent.
Introduction of the mortgage guarantee scheme
Due to the uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic, low deposit mortgages in the UK reduced drastically. Because of this, many first time buyers and new investors could not fulfil their lifelong dreams of buying a property. Hence, the government introduced the mortgage guarantee scheme under which buyers and investors could get a mortgage by paying just 5 per cent of the deposit. Many major banks and lenders came onboard, which further led to the scheme’s success and boosted the buyer’s confidence. Under this scheme, a buyer can get an interest free mortgage for five years. In this case, money saved is money earned! So, if you’re a first-time buyer interested in buying a house in London or anywhere in the UK, you should make use of the mortgage guarantee scheme.
Decrease in overseas investors
London was a popular hub among overseas investors. However, due to the uncertainty around Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, investments from overseas property investors came to a sudden halt. Due to this, there was a slight fall in the average price of a property in London. However, as the vaccine rolls out and the impact of Brexit starts to become clearer, the interest of overseas investors will start to peak again. As of now, investors are waiting with bated breaths to see what the future of the London real estate market holds. However, most experts predict that the prices of property in London will rise in the near future. Keeping all this in mind now would be a great time to invest in properties in London.
