Property investors are deserting the market, with estate agents haart reporting a 55% monthly drop in buy-to-let sales during the first two weeks of April.
Haart reports that in March sales were flying – up 19% across its network on a monthly basis and 17% on March last year.
The firm says its average selling price (sold subject to contract) was £232,030 last month, up 12.1% on an annual basis.
It says that demand soared 26% in the UK, but dipped 5% in London, where the average house price (sold subject to contract) reached £560,390 last month.
Comments (3)
Well done Mr Osborne! We have seen a significant number of tenant applicants advising the reason for them moving is that their Landlords are selling up. Not sure where Mr Osborne plans for the approximate 18% of our population that currently live in rented houses are going to live with the rapidly diminishing stock – not to mention the huge amount of housing benefit claimants that are desperate for social housing but have no option but to use the PRS to house them…….. I wonder what Mr Osborne’s cunning plan is regarding housing all theses people when the PRS stock is so drastically reduced!
I wonder will it get worse as the heat is being turned up. I see that HM Inland revenue are now demanding rent payment records of landlords from letting agents (legally required to supply the information). Used to apply to non-doms but now everyone. While one may agree that landlord tax dodgers should be caught, many may throw in the towel and if they get a whiff of labour getting in …. 3 year protected rights etc will worry them senseless? Many can’t see and I suspect don’t realise yet the logic of conservative policy to tax landlords on gross.
I guess this was pretty predictable, given the buying binge in the first 3 months of 2016 following the idiot Osborne’s announcement that he planned to make even more attacks on small landlords.
I’m old enough though to remember a similar blunder by Nigel Lawson in 1988 when he gave ADVANCE notice of the removal of joint mortgage tax relief for couples buying a house.