Friday News #048 – 13th March 2020
Wednesday was a busy day – the Bank of England stole the chancellor’s thunder by announcing a cut to interest rates on the same day as he delivered his first budget. This move is set to have a positive impact on the mortgage market and maintain property market stability in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Whilst there might be a slowdown in activity in certain areas for the short term as people are dissuaded from travelling or coming into contact with others unnecessarily to view properties, from our perspective Covid-19 is unlikely to have a lasting impact – people still need places to live.
Regional house prices set to grow dramatically: Manchester leads the way, as JLL’s regional forecast highlights rapid growth in the regions over the next five years, as the economy is rebalanced away from London. Read more.
North/South divide narrows in UK property market: The South of England has the strongest performing property market but the North is catching up. See the data.
Property industry reacts to the Budget: On a day where the Bank of England dramatically stole the thunder from newly appointed Chancellor Rishi Sunak, we take a look at what today’s Coronavirus dominated budget had to offer the housing industry. Read the full article.
Bank of England interest rate cut to 0.25%, what does it mean for mortgages and borrowing? The monetary policy committee voted unanimously to cut the base rate from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent to protect the economy against the shock of the rapidly rising threat of a Covid-19 pandemic. Read more from the Evening Standard.
Coronavirus, How It Could Affect The U.K. Housing Market? Despite some agents seeing a drop in enquiries for luxury homes, 83% of buyers surveyed responded that they intend to continue with planned home sales or purchases this year despite the virus. Read more in Forbes.
