According to figures released by UK Finance, and projecting a continued current demand over the coming weeks to the close of the year, the housing market could reach the strongest year since 2006. The strong demand in the housing market has supported the UK economy during the global pandemic and has surprised even the most optimistic experts. No one could have foreseen that the pandemic and lockdowns would start a surge of home buying.

The pandemic caused homeowners and renters to reevaluate their areas as the home became the spot to work, to study rather than attend school in person, to get fit, to cook lockdown meals, and entertain. If not suitable for the new pandemic lifestyle, then it was time for a change and hopeful home buyers turned up despite restrictions for viewing a possible home. 

Online home listers allowed home buyers to shop from home, and discover their dream home. Interestingly, the dream home was outside the city, where space inside and outside was more available to buyers. The demand outpaced supply and asking prices rose, but it didn’t deter home buyers as they had historical low interest rates offered from lenders and up until the end of September there was a stamp duty holiday.

Home sellers, moving businesses, and other businesses associated with setting up a new home were helped due to the booming housing market. Homeowners also benefitted as their property values grew exponentially and it helped many with remortgaging. 

Lenders were offering historically low mortgages, and the same with remortgages. The higher property values helped homeowners move into more attractive loan to value or LTV offers which qualified them for better remortgage deals. Many also took advantage of the built up values and turned their equity into cash with equity cash release remortgages. 

The cash could be used for anything the homeowners desired, and many noted they intended to use the money to improve and upgrade their home. Perhaps evolving their current home into one better suited for the pandemic lifestyle. In turn, some of those improvements could have increased the property value even more.

Of course, savings was the greater benefit of remortgaging as some homeowners realized hundreds in savings per month. Choosing a fixed rate remortgage secured their savings against future rising interest rates for the length of the remortgage term.

Experts have forecasted a bit of a slowdown in the coming months for the market. It will be a result of higher asking prices, lower supply, and an expectation that those desiring more space or a change due to the pandemic will have already moved. However, should the warnings of rising interest rates grow louder, there could be another boost as buyers waiting to take action decide to finally buy. Also, the omicron variant could make a dent in the progress against the pandemic and it could have another unexpected impact on the housing market.

The UK housing market has proved to be resilient over and over in the past few years with recovery from the economic crisis, Brexit, and most recently the pandemic. That could be why, that despite an expected slowdown in the volume of home sales, there is still expected growth for 2022.