Latest data from Mortgage Advice Bureau, the UK’s leading mortgage broker, suggests that the UK housing market remained steady in April, despite the news of a General Election being called for June and ongoing economic and political uncertainty around Brexit. Key indicators that remain either unchanged month on month or similar to the previous month include:
• 2% increase in average purchase price, and correspondingly, an average 2% increase in typical purchase loan size
• Minimal change in average size of remortgage month on month (0.6% increase)
• Average purchase price for FTB’s remains broadly unchanged on previous month (1.23% increase)
Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau comments, Whilst much has been made in the news of the decision to hold a snap election in a few weeks’ time the reality is that, now we can review actual data for April, at this early stage it would seem that so far, the impact on the UK housing market has been minimal. As we all know, consumer sentiment plays a key part in terms of house price growth and sales volumes, and looking back over previous years there is a clear pattern prior to every Election that the months and weeks that proceed such an event are typically quieter, with activity picking up afterwards. However, given that the timescales for the 2017 General Election are so short, the impact of this in most areas of the UK in terms of affecting the decision or not to purchase are negligible; for those who are already in the buying or selling cycle, it’s unlikely to affect their decision, and discretionary buyers – who are normally the most affected by economic or political events – make up a smaller than usual element of the current market, therefore whilst there will be some who decide to hold off until after June 8th to proceed, the majority of consumers are carrying on as normal.
