Property Market News

The nine-month SDLT break is likely to cut HM Treasury's revenue by £1.5bn, says estate agency Keller William UK, having already saved property buyers £817m in tax payments.

Of the world's major prime cities, Seoul, Berlin and Sydney are set to see the highest rates of luxury property price inflation in 2021, forecasts Savills.

The latest Hamptons index tells us that the national rate of rental price inflation ticked up sharply towards the end of 2020. The annual rate jumped from 1.4% in October to 4.1% in December

The sales market has seen a busy start to the year, although asking prices have dipped in the last month as vendors price competitively.

A third national lockdown has deterred just 14% of buyers and sellers from a purchase or sale in 2021, according to a survey of over 10,000 people, with 81% planning to carry on as they planned.

The pace of property price inflation in the UK has slowed sharply since the EU Referendum. 14% growth since 2016 compares to 28% - double the rate - in the equivalent time period prior to the vote

"The volume of activity in prime residential markets [outside London] for [2020] as a whole was the strongest since before the global financial crisis," says Savills.

Housing market activity continues to rise but momentum is easing, according to the latest survey of Chartered Surveyors.

The UK's average house price is set for 0% growth in 2021, predicts Knight Frank, as it trims its prime London forecasts by 1%.

Last week, the government proposed a major reform of leasehold laws, with new rules possibly arriving within two years

Property portal Rightmove has recorded its busiest ever start to a new year, with visits to the site up 30% compared to the same period in 2020.

Estate agency Benham & Reeves has ranked which prime London areas and price brackets are seeing the highest levels of buyer demand.