Property market’s £100bn summer
North is driving the flurry of activity
BUSINESS: The UK residential property market is expected to reach its first ever £100bn summer this year driven by a flurry of interest and activity in northern homes.
The forecast from property giant JLL estimates that there will be 420,000 sales in the UK across June, July and August totalling a record £107bn.
THE UK residential property market is expected to reach its first ever £100bn summer this year driven by a flurry of interest and activity in northern homes, according to new research.
The forecast from property giant JLL estimates that there will be 420,000 sales in the UK across June, July and August totalling a record £107bn.
It will make this summer the highest grossing quarter in UK residential market history, JLL said. Throughout the past half decade, total spend from buyers nationally during the summer months has averaged £69bn-peryear, a figure that comprised of a little over 300,000 sales.
The record is largely driven by activity in the North, where transactions are set to reach 100,000 for the first time at an overall value of £17bn, far outstripping the previous five-year average of 61,300 and £9.5bn respectively.
This unprecedented number of purchases is, according to JLL, attributable to a number of major trends. These include ‘north shoring’ (the process of people moving to the North to save money), the embrace of flexible working, and the Government’s current levelling up agenda, all of which combine to present house hunters with an increasingly attractive value for money proposition.
Nick Whitten, head of UK living research, said: “It is well-documented that the summer is the best time to sell a home, with sentiment receiving a natural positive boost from the warmer weather.
“However, our data suggests that this post-lockdown summer will set a new record.
“The reasons behind the buying bonanza – with the most exchanges and highest total sales value on record – are threefold. The stamp duty extension to the end of June means that during the quarter eager buyers and sellers will look to force a deal through. This, combined with the increased financial stability many buyers are feeling as we unlock from coronavirus, and the welldocumented supply constraints in the UK market, means we can expect to see demand swallowing up available stock, pushing up prices but not to the extent that it will affect transactions.”
The Government has set a priority to help more people onto the housing ladder through its Own Your Home campaign. The campaign puts the spotlight on six government-backed support schemes to allow people to access some form of home ownership.
Stephen Hogg, head of North West and residential UK Regions said: “We have seen the market steadily improve and are fully expecting a further acceleration throughout the summer. “Northshoring” is a trend we have seen pre-covid but even more during and post-covid with purchasers seeing better value for money in the north.
“Regional towns and cities continue to be voted the best places to live in the UK with less congestion and some of the best schooling.
“The regional cities are bouncing back quicker, HS2 offers further medium to long term growth prospects coupled with the Government’s levelling up agenda.
“Flex working is becoming the norm and therefore the need to live close to the Capital is diminishing.
“The historical brain drain of regional centres seeking highskilled, high-paid jobs in London is a thing of the past.”