Demand alone has shot up in recent weeks.

Mortgage action could become prevalent in the coming weeks as pent-up demand is potentially unleashed as the economy reopens. Today, Halifax released their monthly “house price index” which revealed some interesting findings. This index, according to Halifax, is the UK's longest running monthly house price series with data covering the whole country going back to January 1983. The report is primarily focused on house prices but this month’s edition highlighted that demand alone has shot up in recent weeks. These telling signs caught the eye of Mary-Anne Bowring, the group Managing Director at Ringley. She commented on what the figures revealed in the face of the current economic climate:

“Today's figures show potential green shoots of recovery with rising mortgage enquiries although it is clear lockdown and prolonged uncertainty are still having their effect and with no clear route out the pandemic yet, the for-sale market is likely to be subdued as buyers and sellers act cautiously and put off major financial decisions. Mary-Anne went on to examine the impact that these figures should have on any government support packages.

As she continued: “This is why government policies aimed at restimulating the housing market need to look beyond first-time buyers and existing owner-occupiers and tap into new sources of demand like buy to let landlords by scrapping the stamp duty surcharge they face. "With only the private sector predicted to keep on growing and the disruption caused by Coronavirus likely to cause a short term spike in rental demand, the government could kill two birds with one stone by driving activity and meeting a growing housing need. "Landlords are also an important source of development finance for housebuilders through off-plan sales and so cutting SDLT [Stamp Duty Land Tax] for buy to let investors could help housebuilding recover too."