Brexit Impact

Brexit uncertainty has impacted the housing market leading to negative house price growth particularly in London and the South East.

In addition domestic issues related to lack of supply and affordability also continue to affect the market with stock levels and buyer interest declining further towards the end of 2018.

However outside of the Capital and south east there has been a more positive trend, particularly in East Anglia, Wales, the North and Northern Ireland.

Sales expectations for the first three months of the year are now either flat or negative across all parts of the UK although the outlook for the full year is a little more upbeat, suggesting that some of the near-term pessimism is linked to the lack of clarity around what form of departure the UK will make from the EU in March.

The overall lack of sales growth is hardly a surprise with ongoing uncertainty about the path to Brexit dominating the news agenda. It is hard to see developers stepping up the supply pipeline in this environment which means that getting anywhere near the government’s 300,000 building target is highly unlikely.

However outside of London and the South East prices are anticipated to rise slightly in most regions or at least hold steady during 2019.

The continuing uncertainty over Brexit has caused some potential investors to adopt a wait and see strategy which although understandable might cause them to miss out on some very attractive opportunities currently available. As has been stressed many times investing in the buy to let property market should always be for the long term so buying into a weak market can result in better long-term growth.

With strong demand for rental accommodation set to continue the buy to let market continues to present good opportunities for investment in the right areas of the UK.

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