We woke up today to a resounding Conservative victory, so after months of economic and political uncertainty, resulting in a subdued housing market, is there now light at the end of the tunnel?

Hopefully todays result will bring confidence and certainty to the market, encouraging people to move instead of just staying put. We could now see a surge of properties come to market over and above the usual January rush as those that had been waiting around finally decide to move. Regardless, the cost of moving and borrowing hasn’t changed, wages haven’t increased so house prices can’t just ‘soar’ as who could afford to buy them – could an increase in supply then push prices down?!

Whist we talk about certainty, with such a short manifesto it isn’t clear exactly what we can expect, however what we do know is this;

Tax Changes - An extra 3% surcharge on overseas buyers

Whilst this has an impact on the London market and certain property hotspots throughout the UK (i.e. Manchester / Birmingham) I don’t think this will impact our buyers here in Gravesend (interestingly 3% is a drop in the ocean given certain countries attitude to foreign buyers, foreign buyers in Singapore for example will pay a 20% surcharge).

Money

There was no mention of Stamp Duty within the manifesto however the conservatives did previously have plans to overhaul the system. Obviously, any reductions in Stamp Duty would reduce the cost of moving and stimulate the market – fingers crossed!

Landlords

The conservative manifesto specifically mentions their pledge for a ‘better deal for renters’. They have therefore committed to abolish the ‘no fault’ eviction process (Section 21 Notices).

They have also pledged to introduce transferable, lifetime tenancy deposits – which will have little to no impact.

The reductions in tax relief for buy-to-let mortgages will continue (landlords are taxed on their turnover rather than the difference between rental income and mortgage interest)  reaching its final phase in 2020, so I predict we will continue to see Landlords leaving the market place as their investments are no longer viable.

Still, there is a silver lining, there won’t be as many landlords leaving the buy-to-let market as there could have been if Labour had come to power - Jeremy Corbyn had pledged to introduce rent controls and to fund renter's unions. 

We're looking forward to seeing what 2020 has in store!

Sarah