06 MORTGAGE NEWSLETTER firm TwentyCi 38% of properties listed up to the end of December 2024 had at least one price reduction. According to Nationwide’s house price index and the RPI inflation figures, the property market has not recorded real price growth (adjusted for inflation) since 2022. So, are the days of buying for “real” financial gain under pressure? A further pressure point could be the introduction of the Building Safety levy. Expected to raise circa £3Billion pounds, it is seen as another cladding tax on top of the extra 4% corporation tax levied on housebuilders to cover the cost of fixing fire safety faults on flats. Housebuilder, the Berkley group, advised in a recent trading update this would not help the government fulfil its housebuilding target. But lets finish on the positives, lenders want to lend, consumers want to buy and / or refinance, and there is plenty of choice for all! I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter, as always we try to inform and offer thoughts on what could be of interest to you. A special mention if I can to the outgoing Robert Sinclair who has penned an article for us from an AMI perspective, for which we are very grateful. The FTB market has been stimulated by the stamp duty incentive shortly to end, but as a result an estimated 575,000 homes were in the legal completion process. Rightmove has identified around 74,000 moves, including 25,000 first-time buyers, that were set to miss the Stamp Duty deadline, resulting in an extra £142m in tax if completed in April. Forecasts suggest a continued growth in mortgage lending throughout 2025, with UK Finance projecting a 10% increase in house purchase lending, reaching £148 billion. Remortgaging activity is also expected to rise, with a 30% growth forecasted, totalling £76 billion. However, challenges such as potential interest rate volatility and economic uncertainties remain, necessitating cautious optimism among borrowers and lenders alike. Indeed there are headwinds in the market for the medium and long term outside of the economic and global conditions the market is facing. One such issue is the market is now in favour of the buyer as opposed to the seller it seems. The supply of homes for sale is at a 10 year high according to Rightmove’s latest house price index, according to the analytics
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