Brexit and The Housing Market
BREXIT FROM THE START
It’s been 3 years since the United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum! What has happened in 3 years... many disagreements and debates in the political and public arena. The referendum took place on the 23rd June 2016 to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of, or leave the European Union. The referendum resulted in 51.9% of votes being in favour of leaving the EU and 48.1% of votes in favour of remaining. It was a very close vote.
Although legally the referendum was non-binding, the government of the day had promised to implement the result and it initiated the official EU withdrawal process of 29th March 2017, meaning that the UK was due to leave the EU before 11PM on 29th March 2019.
With the date getting closer to leave, there has been no deal agreed and this has caused uncertainty in the business community, especially with companies who trade within the EU.
Now the original leaving date has past and a new extension has been agreed by EU leaders to the 12th April 2019 to exit with no deal or to propose another solution. The uncertainty can cause businesses and the public to put off large investments, so they are unlikely to make large financial decisions before they know how safe the company or their job is.
AFFECTS OF THE HOUSING MARKET
One of the big decisions the public is putting off is house buying. There has definitely been a slowdown in the property market since the referendum in 2016. The cause of this could have been down to the usual pattern of prices growing in spring and plateauing over summer in 2017. However with Brexit drawing nearer, house prices suffered a bigger post-summer dip than usual in 2018 dropping from an average house price peak of £232,797 in August to £230,630 in November. In December 2018 they recovered slightly but then fell further in January 2019. The latest ONS House Price Index reporting the average UK
house price as £228,147. The lowest it has been since May last year. The housing market has had a negative effect for the last 3 years, which is why we want to avoid a no deal Brexit. Any deal that is agreed would only be a positive outcome and for the market to once again be busy.
As it stands, the only thing that’s clear is that nothing is clear, and you’d be justified in having no idea whether now is the right time to buy, move, invest or re-mortgage.
Whatever your clients decide to do, Conveyancing Data Services can supply all the information required in a way that suits you and how you choose to work.
