Demand for home purchases still high
Buyer demand in June was around 46 per cent higher than in early March and 1.5 times higher than the same period in 2019. This is attributed to the opening of the English housing market on 13 May, and demand increased 41 per cent on the partial opening of the Welsh housing market on 22 June. A similar rise is expected in Scotland after its opening at the end of June and sales across the UK are also 4 per cent higher than those recorded on 1 March.
Eight in ten buyers still plan to move in the next year
A large majority – 86 per cent – of house hunters who had planned a move before March’s lockdown still intend to move within the next year despite the delays the pandemic has caused.
Elevated buyer demand is likely to be, in part, due to the influence of many weeks locked down in a current property. A new survey by the Office of National Statistics found that one in four people are planning a major life change post-pandemic. Of those people, more than a third wanted to change where they lived.
New mortgage products aim to address deposit gap
Some lenders have introduced 90 per cent Loan to Value (LTV) mortgages in an attempt to combat the decrease in available products for buyers with smaller deposits. Yorkshire Building Society brought a 90 percent LTV product forward specifically for first time buyers, and other lenders are offering a limited number of 90 per cent home loans.
The pandemic has seen a sharp decrease in available lending for buyers with a small deposit – loans for buyers with a 10 per cent deposit fell by more than a third in mind-June, and mortgage availability has halved for those with a five per cent deposit.