BREAKING PROPERTY NEWS – 23/08/2021
Daily bite-sized proptech and real estate news in partnership with Proptech-X. Today, Stanton looks at SDLT Holiday, The Market Portal and Propertymark
- SDLT Holiday Did Not Cause a Housing Boom
- New Servies Goes Live Across The Market Portal
- Why Propertymark Feels Housing Market Shortage May Become Normal
RESOLUTION FOUNDATION STATES SDLT HOLIDAY DID NOT CAUSE HOUSING BOOM?
Resolution Foundation researcher Krishan Shah has opined that Rishi Sunak’s SDLT was not the fiscal driver for the present supercharged housing market.
For those unaware of what the Resolution Foundation does, it is “an independent think-tank focused on improving the living standards of those on low-to-middle incomes.”
Having first-hand knowledge of the working practices of over 200 estate agents this year, and their trading levels and views on the present boom, I would be interested to see the data that led to the Resolution Foundation’s conclusions.
It said: “UK house prices have boomed over the past year, and many have pointed the finger at the stamp duty holiday as the main cause. But the evidence doesn’t support this popular claim. It now seems that other factors, such as higher savings and changing housing preferences, may have been more or equally important.”
This may well grab the Foundation some headline space in the silly season of newspaper reporting, but I do not think it is an accurate picture of what is going on.
MATT GILPIN’S SPRIFT SERVICE GOES LIVE ACROSS ON THE MARKET PORTAL
It has been announced that Sprift has now been deployed on the third largest portal in the UK, OnTheMarket.
Jason Tebb, CEO of OnTheMarket, is certainly looking to make the lives of its members easier, utilising key partnerships with software solutions that can really help estate agents gain a financial advantage.
Tebb states: “our vision is to provide ‘best in class’ business solutions for agents, either included in their monthly fee or at a significantly reduced cost using our considerable buying power and network of industry suppliers, with our partnership with Sprift being the first part of that approach.”
Under the stewardship of Founder and CEO Matt Gilpin, the company looks to provide big data sets that put all stakeholders in the driver’s position. Sprift, whose tagline is “know any property instantly”, provides this data in the form of upfront information for any property, making house buying and selling quicker, easier and cheaper for all.
PROPERTYMARK FEELS HOUSING MARKET SHORTGAGE MAY BE NORMALISING
Following the huge amount of property transactions this year, fuelled by the SDLT holiday, there has been a scarcity of new housing stock on the market. It is estimated that there may be as many as 1.4 million completions this year, compared to the annual 1.2 million properties that typically get sold and completed each year.
In recent months, agencies throughout the UK have been bemoaning the shortage, but Propertymark has made the following statement via CEO Nathan Emerson, who feels that recent figures show a return to more stock coming on.
“This month’s slight rebalance of the market is welcome news and a much-needed step in the right direction, with supply of property beginning to increase and the number of homes selling for over the asking price starting to even out. Now that the stamp duty holiday is close to its final phased out end, we expect this trend to continue in the coming months as people and spending habits return to normality post Covid.”
The other factors being referenced here are that in a month’s time, the final phase of the SDLT holiday will be over, and it seems that the number of properties having buyers paying more than the asking price (which was at a rate of 40%) is now abating. And of course, the final factor is the pandemic, and what will a more normal society that is not locked down look like.
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