Sarah’s ultimate property masterclass

THE ‘BREXIT EFFECT’ ON OUR HOMES…

There’s been a lot of talk about the ‘Brexit effect’ on property. But there’s no need to panic! We’re not going to see a catastrophic crash in house prices. It’s not going to happen. The reality is, we live on an island; we have a lot of people on this island and very strict planning laws. There are only so many houses, and there are more people than houses. So, although it’s tempting to get worked up, we have to be logical.

People might be more inclined to stay put for a bit, less likely to take a risk and be a bit more cautious about pushing themselves too far with borrowing.

That’s no bad thing and doesn’t mean the market won’t move.

Fundamentally, whatever happens politically, socially things will stay the same: people grow up, find a partner, have kids and need to buy or rent a house. Then they move to a bigger house, then are likely to downsize to something smaller. That pattern will continue and I don’t think the entire country will stop getting on with their lives. Obviously, no one quite knows for sure how Brexit will work, but I can absolutely tell you that in

10 years’ time it will all be fine.

People often ask me, ‘When is the housing market going to get back to normal?’ They mean back to the time when houses were going up in value by £50K in a year. But those are crazy, inflated prices and shouldn’t be what we aspire to.

There was a time when property prices were rising 20% a year and we’re unlikely to see that again. Good! Of course, it might feel great if your house price goes up in value by

20%, but it also means that your next house is more expensive, so you need a bigger mortgage. In the meantime, first-time buyers can’t afford to get on the ladder. So the only people that benefit from price rises like that are people who are going to sell their house to spend the money.