Heading for a crash?

The property portal Zoopla reports that enquiries from house-hunters jumped 88% across England after the market reopened earlier this month – taking them surging past “pre-lockdown levels”, said Melissa Lawford in The Daily Telegraph. But there has been a clear change in what property buyers are finding desirable. Coronavirus has delivered a “serious hit to London’s appeal”, with regional cities – particularly on the south coast and in the North – recording the biggest jumps. “The scale of the rebound... is welcome” – but also “surprising, given projections for a rise in unemployment and a major decline in economic growth”, noted Zoopla’s Richard Donnell. Indeed, Zoopla expects the resurgence to be “short-lived”.

“Britain’s love affair with rising house prices borders on the pathological, so a mini-boom can’t entirely be ruled out,” said Larry Elliott in The Guardian. And the Government has also done its best “to give the market a boost” by extending its “mortgage holiday” for a further three months. But don’t be fooled. Most of the ingredients are in place for a “property crash later this year” – the only thing missing is sharply rising interest rates. Speaking personally, “a relative for whom I hold power of attorney is about to have his house put on the market to fund his care home fees. My intention is to take the first halfway decent offer.” Make no mistake: prices are headed lower.