"It suggests general uncertainty, apprehensiveness and a “wait and see” mindset."
Online Mortgage Advisor surveyed 2,400 homeowners who were almost as apprehensive about selling (39%) as they would be about buying (46%) in the run up to an orderly or no-deal Brexit.
Despite a recent report from Nationwide revealing house prices are slightly up (0.2%) in October 2019 compared to the year before, buyers and sellers are still anxious. When compared to the average house price during the referendum in 2016 (£204,968), the average house as of September 2019 (£215,352) is actually up 5%.
Google searches for “Brexit House Prices” spiked dramatically immediately following the Brexit referendum result as well as increasing in the run up to key Brexit deadlines and just after the election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. Although the average house price has seen a slow growth, buyers and sellers are still unsure what to do.
Pete Mugleston, managing director of Online Mortgage Advisor, commented: “The fact that almost as many people would be apprehensive about selling as would be apprehensive about buying was surprising to me as I would have expected the concerns to be related to a house price drop post-brexit. It suggests general uncertainty, apprehensiveness and a “wait and see” mindset.
"Whether it’s simply certainty either way that is required or if it’s fear over a no-deal brexit is unknown. I do, however, suspect there is a significant degree of hidden and pent-up demand in the market waiting to be unleashed as people wait to see the outcome first.”
