The Housing Market

When the decision was made to leave the European Union the UK housing market seemed almost unaffected. One would assume that the monumental decision (made in 2016) would’ve had immediate effects on our housing market, however this did not seem to be case. Nonetheless, the UK housing market is now facing difficulty, due to the large amount of uncertainty which has arisen as a byproduct of the Brexit Vote.

The decision to leave the European Union has not only caused uncertainty for the British currency, but also for the UK housing market. According to the BBC, house price growth has reached its slowest rate for five years – 1.6 percent. One could argue that the slowing rate has occurred due to the uncertainty which has been aroused by the Brexit vote. People are not sure what will happen to house prices post-Brexit, therefore they are lacking confidence to invest. The overall effect of this could be quite severe – especially in the long-term – if the transition out of the European Union is not smooth. Further research suggests that a disruptive no-Brexit deal could cut house prices by thirty five percent. It seems that the housing markets in the South East and London may already be suffering: house prices in London have already fallen 0.7 percent.

Statistics show how the UK housing market it struggling and it could continue to do so up until March 2019. Arguably, the most important aspect of the Brexit deal is the formation of a decent transition deal – if this does not happen then we could see the UK housing market suffer rather severely.