How will a Brexit no-deal effect the UK Housing Market?

As the 51.9% of the 30 million who voted to leave the EU, (72.21 percent of the public voted) and totalling 17,410,742 votes, patiently wait for the government to action it’s wishes, does the looming threat of a ‘no-deal’ on Brexit mean that tough times will be ahead for the UK housing market? An ongoing battle still persists between the Leave and Remain camps with nearly constant daily made up threats of economic disasters about to occur thanks to Brexit shared by most national press outlets that are usually factually squashed before another one is born. Even the People’s Vote (translated as merely a push to over turn the democratic original vote on leaving the EU) is gathering celebrity endorsements with the bbc’s Gary Lineker being one of the most vocal campaigners to overturn Brexit ie Gary Lineker described Theresa May as “frightfully boring” as he re-iterated calls for a second vote on Brexit.

In between Lineker talking about football or promoting some crisp brand or, against his bbc contract, advertising shirt brands, you will see him pushing out all negatives on Brexit, and out towards high standing people supporting it, as you will also see with other such bbc faces as Deborah Meaden with her Twitter time line easily confusing me if she is a business woman, a star of bbc Dragon’s Den, a would be politician or ambassador of a self funded remain campaign. I do not think these people would still have a presence on the bbc if they were supporting Brexit, do you?!

So with a heel dragging Brexit approach from the Prime Minister, national press on the Remain campaign side and celebrity faces fighting against the democracy of the EU vote in 2016, is there light at the end of the tunnel, or should I say what is due upon reaching March 29, 2019 when Brexit is delivered?

I hear from many in the catering industry who are in charge of recruitment who state that they have seen a big fall in application for jobs and they put this down to Brexit scaring off foreign workers. I hear people in the UK property industry fearful that a Brexit as per what people voted for, ie clean Brexit or as the media like to state ‘hard Brexit’, is a growing concern in that population figures may drop thus pushing down the pressure on housing and many landlords being left with empty property as the UK slowly becomes less of a country to extract benefits from and more of a country aiding those who want to contribute to its growth – Less requirement of property means a slow down or down turn in value.

Obviously we are now currently in wait and see mode with regards to what Brexit deal is decided upon so uncertainty in the market and even a touch of fear is what we are seeing the results of today in that there is a slight slow down and in deed downturn in property price growth. If the Brexit deal goes against the vote of the people then it will not be a clean break and in fact could be just Brexit in name so surely we will be where we were not so long ago with increasing immigration and increased demand on housing thus increasing house prices and more people renting over buying? If of course we see Brexit in full flying colours then we could see a complete stand still in the UK property market and a period of decrease in demand and a stand off from buyers looking to await price falls rather than jumping in at the very top of the market – Many will see this as good news and a positive in that it would help hard-pressed, first-time buyers.

So, if the Brexit we finally get is a no-deal and goodbye thank you very much in style then we could see a very unstable UK property market I feel, not a collapse of course though a long needed correction that could last for a couple of years until the media tire of and remain campaigning celebrities shy away from scaremongering and devaluing Brexit and we start to see the grass roots of being independent from the EU. This would enable hard working people of the country, be it those who have lived in the UK all their lives or those coming / having come from abroad to work towards a better life for themselves here, to find they have the ability to afford their very own property to own and to start building their long term security instead of that of multi property owning landlords.

No-deal Brexit and the UK property market? It will be good for genuine people looking to purchase a property as a home and not as a business solution, it will help to see a well needed adjustment in UK property prices and hopefully over time reduce the percentage of those renting property rather than owning property (privately renting increased from 13 per cent to 20 per cent from 2007 – 17). We should not be seeing headlines such as ‘Nurses face 40 years of saving for a deposit on an average home’ or ‘Firefighters would need to save for 35 years to get on the property ladder’.

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

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