A hot summer for
SPENDING A ‘remarkable year’ for property continues, with London set to pick up the pace, writes Zoe Dare Hall
S
o here we are, in our second summer of mostly holidaying at home. Yet from a property perspective, it’s rather different this time round. Where last year was marked by “panic moves” from city to country, comments Alberto Cordero at Best Gapp, “there is a greater degree of confidence in the market 15 months on. We have learnt to live with the current situation and the assurances we now have with the vaccine.” Sales numbers will still look good compared with pre-pandemic times, but not as manic as last summer, he thinks. “Buyers will be more selective – particularly those moving from Zone 1 to Zone 2, or upsizing from Chelsea to Hampstead or Queen’s Park in search of outdoor space or extra bedrooms,”
says Cordero. “Although there is still an appetite for family houses, buyers are not willing to pay a premium and we have now entered into a price-sensitive market.” This summer also sees the dying months of the stamp duty holiday, introduced in June 2020 and now tapered until it fizzles out on 1 October. Although its material impact on higher-end buyers has been limited, its wider effect has been a positive one, thinks Patrick Littlemore, CEO at Marsh & Parsons. “No one trading at £1m upwards has that much regard for a £15,000 saving, but further down the line, money is coming into the food chain.” This is one holiday, however, that Tom Bill, Knight Frank’s head of residential research, is glad to wave goodbye to. He describes the tax holiday as a “commendable” move at the height of
10.2%
UK HOUSE PRICE GROWTH, THE HIGHEST SINCE 2007
60 The London Magazine
the pandemic, but one that has now “overstayed its welcome”. It may have added some extra froth to the market, but it also whipped up panic among buyers, leading to sealed bids, over-wrought conveyancing solicitors and a shortage of removal vans. Even without this tax break, “we would still be talking about a remarkable year compared to initial expectations,” says Bill, who cites March as a record month for transactions in the UK, and more money being spent in the housing market over the past year than before the global financial crisis. Indeed, this season is set to be “Britain’s first £100 billion summer”, according to forecasts from UK Living Research, which – based on the recent trajectory of the housing market – estimate 420,000 sales across the UK from June
