22% increase in agreed sales in London since the general election.
The recently published RICS Residential Market Survey has revealed that after months of political uncertainty and the loom of Brexit, the housing market, particularly in London, is finally showing positive signs. The change in behaviour arrives in the wake of the general election, and has hence been named the ‘Boris Bounce’.
The monthly report produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) consults its members, made up of surveyors and estate agents, on their views and experience of the housing market throughout the past month. The results presented here are taken from the survey from the 20th December to the 9th January – the first glimpse of the market post-election.
In the RICS report, 17% of members reported rises in buyer enquiries, with 31% of members expecting transactions to rise over the next quarter, and 61% predicting a rise in 2020.
However, a true testament to the ‘Boris Bounce’ is the number of agreed sales. With an overall increase of 9% in the UK, the biggest rise has been visible in London, with a whopping 22% increase in agreed sales since the general election. The South East has also benefitted tremendously in recent months, with a 23% increase. Both areas have suffered perhaps the most harshly throughout the past year, with resulting weak markets.
That being said, the new boost to the property market isn’t entirely the result of the election outcome. Sales of prime central London property rose by a third in the last quarter of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. The prime market in London is primarily driven by overseas buyers, which suggests that many acted upon an opportunity to purchase prime London property while it was still at a sterling discount.
While there may have been an upturn in behaviour around the housing market towards the end of last year, there’s no denying that the certainty, at least for now, is that the general election has helped to install a fresh sense of confidence in buyers and vendors around the UK, but particularly in London. The good news? Experts predict that things will only go up from here for the year ahead. It is expected, that as well as rising house values, the bounce will unleash a flurry of commercial property deals in the City, as well as revival in the market throughout the rest of the UK, of which the effects will be seen long into 2020.
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