Worried about potential restrictions on housing market

spoovy

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

Crashy_Time

Wouldn`t have thought viewing houses was a priority in the current situation? What will "close" the housing market (at current prices anyway) will be unemployment, the end of furlough and the end of the SD stunt.

anni_

Grumpy_chap said:

anni_ said:

What do people think the chances are of a closure of the housing market due to covid restrictions? 

Zero - Zilch - Nada - Nichts - Niente

The housing market was never stopped or shut down at any time so far, it was always permitted to move home right the way through every restriction yet.  Things slowed up, and fewer people viewing, but never completely "closed" housing market.

This makes me feel so much better. I honestly thought it had. Thank you 😊 

Crashy_Time

spoovy said:

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

They have stated that if called for due to rising infections they would shut it down.

NatNat77

I think it's possible too, it's looking likely that stricter restrictions will be introduced and given that house buying and selling involves mixing households (not just viewings, but valuations and surveys etc) it seems an obvious choice to me. And I thought during the first lockdown you could only move into a property if it was empty or there was some other extenuating circumstance, but perhaps I'm wrong on that. The government will come under increasing pressure to extend the stamp duty deadline and stopping viewings etc would be a way of doing that without appearing to back down. All IMO of course! 

Mickey666

Crashy_Time said:

spoovy said:

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

They have stated that if called for due to rising infections they would shut it down.

Source  ?

Grumpy_chap

spoovy said:

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

There are some saying that we need a tighter lockdown than we currently have.  Very little actually being said about what those tighter restrictions might be.

In terms of the housing market coming under tighter restrictions, my guess would be that any contracts already exchanged would be permitted to proceed to completion but no new viewing / exchanges would be permitted.  For the OP's case, though, even that would not necessarily mean that the buyers pulled out as assuming they would still want to move, they'd be unable to buy anywhere else until the market re-opened at which time they could pick up where they left off with the OP's property.  In fact, if it allowed the seller to conclude enquiries within the "closed" period, then the process once re-opened may be very quick.

If there is a further tightening of rules, then look at the reality of March lockdown (which actually closed far more even though the rules were similar) and look at other countries to see possible actions:

• garden centres
• DIY shops
• nursery (child type and garden type)
• take away food
• places of worship
  
• builders merchants
• off-license / vape-shops
• children's playgrounds
• limit on hours outdoors
• sports
• construction
• manufacturing where 2 m cannot be maintained

All of those would (imo) reduce mixing of people more than closing housing market, which is only ever a very small number of people.  These are just my thoughts - I am not qualified to assess what is next to close and have not heard anything from any reliable source.  The last 2 in my list seem unlikely because of the economic impact but, if it is all about protecting the NHS, these would remove some demand from emergency departments, which seems to be the capacity under most immediate challenge.

davidmcn

Grumpy_chap said:

spoovy said:

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

All of those would (imo) reduce mixing of people more than closing housing market, which is only ever a very small number of people

I would agree with this - other than the potential "moving to a different tier" issue there's nothing inherently hazardous about households moving elsewhere. I would expect next steps to be tightening / enforcing activities which involve larger numbers of people failing to socially distance.

Sibbers123

In the first lockdown viewing stopped (virtual only). No one was going to buy a house via a video, so the housing market did stop.

However, existing purchases, particularly those that exchanged, were allowed to go ahead. But there was a distinct lack of removal firms still operating. 

Crashy_Time

Mickey666 said:

Crashy_Time said:

spoovy said:

I think its possible.  Infection numbers in the south east at least worse than at any time before, and there are calls for a tougher lockdown than we've seen before as a result.

They have stated that if called for due to rising infections they would shut it down.

Source  ?

https://www.building.co.uk/government-ready-to-shut-down-housing-market-if-covid-crisis-worsens/5109781.article

Did China let people wander round Ghost Cities viewing overpriced skyboxes during their lockdown?