Housing market 

Welcome to the Paul Dinglis Property blog. The housing market has seen record-breaking growth since June after briefly put on hold during the outbreak of the pandemic this spring. Despite looming economic uncertainty, highly controversial elections, and the aggravated spread of the pandemic, home buyers continue to quickly snatch up the relatively few homes listed for sale. 

This time the housing market is largely being driven by two factors: a shortage of available housing inventory and extremely low-interest rates. More than 100,000 additional house sales are expected during the first three months of 2021, as the rebound in the property market continues and buyers rush to complete their purchases before the end of the stamp duty holiday.  

The flurry of interest from potential buyers has pushed up house prices by 3.5%, the highest level of growth for almost three years, and is set to increase further by the end of 2020. Continued interest from homebuyers caused residential property transactions to surge by almost 10% in October, compared with a month earlier.

More than 105,000 residential transactions took place last month, an increase of nearly 10% compared with September, and 8.1% higher than October 2019, according to figures from HMRC.

A last-minute surge of prospective buyers is expected in January. Homebuyers have been warned that high demand for mortgages and coronavirus restrictions are creating delays in the process. The number of mortgage approvals hit their highest level since before the financial crisis in September. Figures from the Bank of England showed almost 85,000 loans to fund a house purchase were approved in August alone.

Paul Dinglis is a UK property expert. Learn more about Paul Dinglis online here. Visit the Paul Dinglis website here. Follow Paul Dinglis on Pinterest for more useful tips to remember when purchasing UK properties.