New research from House Buyer Bureau, based on a survey of 1,193 current homebuyers in England, found that 27% have decided to delay their search until after the government has revealed its plans.<\/p>\n
A further 21% remain undecided over whether to do so, meaning almost half of prospective buyers could temporarily step back from the market in the run-up to the Budget.<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s Managing Director Chris Hodgkinson says: \u201cAutumn Statement speculation has become an almost annual headache for the property market, and uncertainty over what might be announced can cause buyers to think twice before making such a significant financial commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sellers, the concern is that we’re not just talking about would-be buyers who haven’t started looking yet. Many of those choosing to wait were already browsing the market, contacting agents and even attending viewings before deciding to sit on the fence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just 52% of those surveyed said they were carrying on with their property search as planned.<\/p>\n
One of the bigger concerns for buyers who have put their plans on hold is what the Budget could mean for mortgage rates, which was cited by 23% of respondents.<\/p>\n
Another 18% are concerned that taxes or the overall cost of buying a property could increase, with the same proportion specifically waiting to see whether there are changes to Stamp Duty.<\/p>\n
House prices themselves are another consideration, with 13% concerned that measures announced in the Budget could affect property values, and another 15% simply want greater certainty before making such a significant financial commitment.<\/p>\n
Relatively few buyers, though, are holding back in the hope of receiving government help. Just 8% are waiting to see whether any kind of financial support or incentives are announced on October 28th, falling to 5% for those specifically hoping for additional first-time buyer support.<\/p>\n
A large proportion of those delaying their plans had already made significant progress with their property search.<\/p>\n
54% of those who have decided to wait had been browsing properties online, with 19% having progressed as far as contacting estate agents.<\/p>\n
A further 12% had already attended property viewings, while just 15% had yet to begin their search.<\/p>\n
That means 85% had taken some action towards buying a home before deciding to hold fire until after the Budget.<\/p>\n
It comes at a time when sellers are already facing stiff competition. Rightmove\u2019s August House Price Index found the number of homes for sale was at a 12-year high for the time of year, with average asking prices falling 2% in August to \u00a3364,999, 1% lower than a year earlier.<\/p>\n
There have, though, been some more encouraging signs since then, with buyer demand rising by 5% during the first week of September, according to Rightmove, showing that not everyone has been put off by uncertainty surrounding the Budget.<\/p>\n
The disruption to the market, however, is likely to prove relatively short-lived. According to Hodgkinson, \u201cOnce the Government has shown its hand, some of this uncertainty should lift, and buyers may well return to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget is starting to have a measurable impact on the housing market, with more than a quarter of buyers already pausing their property plans. New research from House Buyer Bureau, based on a survey of 1,193 current homebuyers in England, found that 27% have decided to delay their search until… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4233,"featured_media":6108209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,765,59,6],"tags":[768],"class_list":["post-6108208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buy-to-let-landlords","category-investment","category-property-investment","category-trending-news","category-uk-housing-market","tag-autumn-budget"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6108208"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6108214,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108208\/revisions\/6108214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6108209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6108208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6108208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6108208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}