Housepresso 12 September 21

Published 12th of September, 2021

All you need to know about the housing market this week in one quick hit

Picture credit: Pawel Czerwinski


How to turn housing from political hot potato to comfort food

It is not often that we at Twindig get political, but after watching a very heated exchange between the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and the Leader of the opposition Keir Starmer, at Wednesday’s Prime Minister's Questions, we couldn’t help but think that we could heal the rift between the two and turn property from a political hot potato into comfort food for all.


House prices reach record highs in August

UK house prices are now at record highs, some £24,000 higher than March 2020 when the UK entered its first lockdown.

The annual rate of house price inflation has slowed to 7.1%, but this is to be expected as the Stamp Duty Holiday draws to a close.

The Halifax believes that structural factors such as the shift to working from home will continue to underpin house prices once the Stamp Duty stimulus is taken away. The search for more space both inside and outside is not linked to stamp duty holiday's but rather the shifting patterns in our everyday working patterns.


Metaphysical mortgages

If a mortgage exists but no one buys, does it really exist?

It is not often mortgages and metaphysics meet, but the availability of high LTV mortgages coupled with their lack of sales makes us question their existence, if they are available but not being sold are they really there?

RICS residential survey August 2021 - Prices up Supply down

The August 2021 RICS Residential Survey points to a slight fall in housing market activity during the month. This is to be expected in our view as August is the second month in which the lower stamp duty holiday limit was in force.

However, the RICS members surveyed expect that sales activity will stabilise over the coming months with positive momentum returning on a twelve-month view, suggesting that the stamp duty holiday impact on the UK housing market are temporary.

Twindig Housing Market Index


The Twindig Housing Market Index fell by 3.1% to 92.3 this week, its biggest fall since 30 January 2021. The big fall came in the week that, according to the Halifax, UK house prices reached record highs, rising to £262,954, up £17,352 in the year. Perhaps the retreat of the index this week is a case of travelling and arriving.

Investor confidence fell the most in the housebuilding sector, down 5.8%. Operationally housebuilders had a good week, Vistry reported robust first-half results and plans to accelerate their growth and dividend plans. The housebuilding sector is currently not lacking confidence even if investors are.

Housing Hailey
Twindig

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