A UK property market mini boom? For houses, yes — but not flats

Nicosy

Article in the FT re diverging fortunes of houses vs flats since Covid emerged:
https://www.ft.com/content/dd231c09-8ecf-4d8a-8cee-f772fcb99f5b 

FreeBear

Round here, flats are being snapped up within days of going on the market (at least, the good ones are).

NinjaTune

Paywall, can't read the article.

It's been recognised for some time now that people want room to work from home and an outside space so no big surprise.  Add in the cladding nightmare following Grenfell and, sadly, flats are generally going to be hard to shift for some time to come.

MovingForwards

Depends on the flat and budget, not everyone can afford a house, some are happy to buy a flat and build up equity, while saving to move up the ladder.

Mine is an old one, block of 6 flats, each with a decent size private garden.

gerkin

Flats = Leasehold, neighbours up, down and across, small, shoebox, no garden, go up and down flights of stairs, service charges, cladding problem, etc etc. I think there are more.

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

lookstraightahead

gerkin said:

Flats = Leasehold, neighbours up, down and across, small, shoebox, no garden, go up and down flights of stairs, service charges, cladding problem, etc etc. I think there are more.

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

Where I live there are lots of Victorian houses converted into max 4 apartments, all with gardens. Share of freehold. I think that's much nicer than the issues that go with lots of houses. Also much more floor space than new houses. 

Slithery

gerkin said:

Flats = Leasehold, neighbours up, down and across, small, shoebox, no garden, go up and down flights of stairs, service charges, cladding problem, etc etc. I think there are more.

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

Those aren't issues with all flats though are they. A lot of places will have none of those except the leasehold which often isn't a problem at all.

davidmcn

Slithery said:

gerkin said:

Flats = Leasehold, neighbours up, down and across, small, shoebox, no garden, go up and down flights of stairs, service charges, cladding problem, etc etc. I think there are more.

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

Those aren't issues with all flats though are they. A lot of places will have none of those except the leasehold which often isn't a problem at all.

And not all of the UK even has to deal with leasehold.

Aranyani

gerkin said:

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

Because they can't afford a house, or they want to live in a city centre, or they are moving into a retirement block.

I think those are the main reasons. 

hazyjo

gerkin said:

Why would anyone buy a flat and face all those issues ?

Price usually.

Many of us start of off in flats. I had 2 conversions for my first two properties. No way could I have afforded a house in an area I'd have felt safe living.

Flats in the south east often sell easily enough as it's often all FTBs can afford. My OH's son and his GF have just bought a lovely duplex flat. They'd have loved a house, but there's no way they could've stretched to that.

annetheman

The FT article is poorly researched. People who couldn't afford outdoor space before (i.e. wanted it but bought a flat instead of a house for finance reasons) can't suddenly afford it now when all that has changed is lockdown and change to working from home, unless they move to a cheaper area. Whilst the "flight to the countryside" is a real thing now, as many no longer need to be in big cities for work reasons, I don't think that's why flat sales have stalled.

The cladding scandal and EWS1 backlog is the true reason - it is a gargantuan issue affecting millions and I am still surprised every day at how few people are aware of it. When I explain the situation, often people don't actually believe it's real, it's that bad.

There is still an appetite for flats, they offer an excellent step on the ladder for many in areas where houses are out of financial reach - but if the seller doesn't have an EWS1, you can't buy a flat. And many, many, many buildings need EWS1 assessments vs roughly 290 qualified assessors.

Absolute mess.