Hot Property News - General Election July 2024

The General Election brings us a Labour Government and a new Prime Minister in Sir Keir Starmer in what could only be described as a predictable landslide victory. At the time of writing, 648 seats out of 650 were declared with Labour gaining 214 seats, the Liberal Democrats winning an additional 63 seats whilst the Conservatives lost 251 seats including those of 12 former Cabinet members followed by the subsequent resignation of Rishi Sunak who retained his seat with a 47.5% share of the vote.  

What will all this mean for homeowners, landlords and tenants? Despite some people voicing their concerns about the impact of a Labour Government on the housing market, historically it has generally prospered under Labour and I see no reason to be concerned, quite the contrary in fact as a change is long overdue.  

The Bank of England base rate remains at 5.25% after the policy committee met on 20th June despite predictions that there would be a small rate drop after the inflation rate dropped to 4.2%. It will be interesting to see how the BOE react to change of Government, but I predict two 0.25% cuts before the end of this financial year and a 0.50% overall reduction in interest rates will certainly stimulate the housing market even though it will take a while to filter down to mortgage rates.  

Across the board mortgage interest rates rose during late May and June and many lenders withdrawing 5-year fixed term rates, opting for 2-year terms.

These are pretty much the best deals that I could find:  

• Purchase - 40% deposit – 2 years fixed @ 4.78% (+) with 5 x income multiplier  
• Purchase & remortgage – 25% deposit – 2 years fixed @ 4.84% (+) with 4.5 x income multiplier  
• Purchase - 10% deposit – 2 years fixed @ 5.34% (+) with 4.5 x income multiplier  
• Buy to Let – 25% deposit – 2 years fixed @ 4.59% (+) (Based on rental income)  

As in previous months the North London lettings market continues to be extremely busy and again many enquiries are coming from international tenants moving to London to work, largely in the I.T. sector.  

The sales market continues to build momentum and we have succeeded in completing a sale on a property affected by cladding and purchased with a mortgage through a High Street lender. We also have other sales arranged with mortgages agreed by lenders despite the properties requiring remediation work that has not commenced, evidently buyer confidence is being restored as lenders have returned to the market, we just need some reduction in mortgage interest rates and the sales market will fly.  

Finally some fantastic news for leaseholders at Vizion7, Building Control consent has finally been granted to allow the cladding remediation works to commence without further delay!