Brexit and the General Election are considered as the greatest risks to the UK housing market.
According to The Building Societies Association’s (BSA) ‘Property Tracker Index’ for the final quarter of 2019, 43% of recipients deemed Brexit the greatest threat to the sector.
Almost a third of those polled also perceived the result of the general election (30%), weak economic growth (30%) and a rise in the cost of living (36%) as factors placing a huge strain on property market growth in 2020.
The myriad factors causing uncertainty have also contributed towards a continued negative outlook regarding market sentiment.
When asked if the present market is a good time to buy, a net balance of -8% suggested that the current climate is problematic.
However, confidence has improved from the third quarter of 2019 when sentiment was at -12% and from December 2018 when the question marked up confidence of -14%.
The 12 month outlook remains slightly more positive with 28% of respondents confident that house process will rise in the next year.
Conversely, 26% believe property prices will remain stable or even fall. Positively, this figure has fallen from 33% in September, suggesting a more optimistic market despite current obstacles.
Given the reduction in available housing stock towards the end of the year, finding the right property is now a larger barrier to property purchases, rising to 12% in December from 10% in September.
Respondents are also worried by legal costs, with concern rising from 7% to 9% between the final two quarters of 2019.
Similarly, people are increasingly finding the complexity of the home buying and selling process to be a continued barrier to successful transactions, rising from 6% to 9% in the past six months.
Overall, raising a deposit is still considered to be the most prominent barrier to home ownership. 62% of respondents found rising deposit costs to be a major difficulty; this figure has increased from 60% in September with more people anxious that political decisions could negatively impact the economy.
What impact will the election and Brexit have on the property market?
