How will the Covid-19 lockdown affect house prices ???
Here are my thoughts ...
The housing market has effectively been suspended so it's a little early to tell exactly how house prices will be affected.
What we can see is that COVID-19 is affecting activity in the housing market - the number of homes that are being bought and sold. Zoopla says that buyer demand, or demand from sales 'applicants', has dropped 70% since March 7th, the date when concerns over the virus really started to impact consumer activity. As you can imagine this is to be expected with the government guidelines that are in place.
The good news is that they expect demand to pick up again once the physical restrictions are eased.
As a company we are still getting plenty of enquiries from sales applicants who want to view when the restrictions are lifted so the is demand at present is definitely there. Our sales are still progressing as normal the tricky part at the moment being completion dates (as we are not sure when these restrictions will be lifted.)
Zoopla also notes that mortgage interest rates are at their lowest level ever, mortgage payment holidays and government support for business means we are unlikely to see a big increase in forced sellers (who would have to accept lower prices) in the near term.
As such, they do not expect any big movement in house prices during the coronavirus lockdown.
Beyond that, it depends on how long the market remains disrupted and any longer-lasting economic impact. But Zoopla's current expectation is the same as my own, that with all of the government measures in place to keep the economy afloat pricing levels will largely pick up from where they left off at the start of March.
Keep safe xx