Due to the recent pandemic, people were forced to be locked down in their own houses or apartments for a very long time. This caused a massive unemployment, business closure and disinterest in investing – even for the home of their dreams. The property market is just one of the markets that has been greatly affected by this. Let’s find out if these factors led to an increase or decrease to the current house price in the UK
Cost of Housing
In the start of 2009, the lowest house price in the United Kingdom was reported with an average of 157.2 British pounds. Since then, there was a remarkable and steady increase in the prices of houses. In 2013, the house prices increase quarterly and by the latest statistics last February 2020, the prices of the houses in the UK was about 230.3 thousand British pounds. In the past 13 years, it is between 2013 and 2014 where the highest house price was recorded at 9% increase.
Cost of Renting
For those who are not yet ready to spend a lot of money to buy a home opted to rent a home. Many people rent homes in big cities because of the bigger opportunities in their career. The downside of it though is that the cost of living is high too making it difficult to save some money for buying a real estate property. On the brighter, this increases the demand for affordable residential homes in the city boosting its property market.
House Price
When there is a presence of an economic uncertainty due to such unpredictable factors – like the coronavirus, we expect the house price to decrease. Since the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, many businesses and sectors are trying to gain their losses in the previous month. The property market is slowly getting back on track while implementing safety measures.
The average house price in the United Kingdom in 2007 is just 176, 758 British pounds while the latest data shows that in February 2020, the house price is about 230,332 British pounds. The peak of house price was seen between 2013 and 2014 where the prices had a 9% increase.
At the start of 2020, it was predicted that the prices of properties on sale will significantly rise due to the number of people who are searching for homes from towns and city centers. Many are looking for a home with a wide garden and has a good amount of space where they can put up their own home office. But since the unexpected pandemic, many people temporarily put their house hunting on hold and are focusing on how to get by while the economy is still unsure.
According to experts there are two scenarios that can happen due to this. First, property prices may fall but it is still good to invest in it as it is considered to be a long-term investment and may even give you a good return in the future. Second factor is the flexibility of the property market which was proven overtime. Many factories and buildings were redesigned to be condominiums or residential areas. This setback is just temporary and will probably go back to normal once the massive shock caused by covid-19 is gone.