UK housing market could bounce back in Q4 2020

Housing market activity is on track for a drastic fall this summer, as significantly fewer homes change hands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Property prices were stable in March, but the collapse in market activity as a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak is expected to place downward pressure on prices. 

House prices hit an average of £240,384 in March, slightly down from the record high £240,461 recorded in February, according to Halifax.

Property values are up 3% year-on-year indicating that the market was on an upward trajectory, but it is clear that this will not continue in the short-term. 

However, market conditions could improve in the final quarter of the year, according to Tomer Aboody, director of property lender MT Finance. 

Abody said: “What a start to the year the housing market had, with positivity so strong that it stood a good chance of lasting the full 12 months. 

“The year-on-year increase in values and transactions indicates that buyers and sellers had got over the Brexit debacle and were getting on with their lives.

“Of course, coronavirus has now cast a very dark shadow over the property market and wider economy. 

“If the crisis is tackled properly by the government and indeed the country as a whole, then hopefully by the final quarter some of that positivity which we saw earlier in the year will have a chance to return.”

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