Property viewings are on the rise

In July 2020 the UK government made a decision to help stimulate the UK property market with a stamp duty holiday. So for any residential property purchases between 8 July 2020 to 31 March 2021, you only pay SDLT on the amount that you pay for the property above £500,000.

Within July 2020 there was a 29% increase in viewings which takes viewings from 20 in April to 6000 in July according to Property Wire. With the stamp duty holiday we believe that the market will stay buoyant and continue to see viewings, instructions and sales grow. The property industry is key to the UK economy as a whole recovering from the covid recession.

With the increase in viewing there is a natural rise in offers, valuations and purchases. This has meant that several mortgage lenders have reinstated their very appealing products such as Yorkshire Building Society offer 90% LTV. The stamp duty holiday looks on face value that it will get the property market going again

Allowing buyers to save on average £15k on their property purchases, so this will allow you to be able to purchase a house which was out of reach before, you can spend the savings on refurbishing the house or you can have the saving in the bank so you feel more secure when committing to house purchase.

Some critics of the UK government's stamp duty holiday think that freezing the SDTL will not allow those who it is targeted at to take advantage of the saving as they face job uncertainty. There are daily announcements of very large business closing or making job cuts, so some buyers may postpone their house purchase as they lack job security.

When I have spoken to peers some are hedging their bets for the house prices to drop in early 2021 which will mean the saving in the house price reductions is more attractive then using the SDTL savings. Would you make this gamble?