What Will The UK’s Housing Market Look Like In 2022?

As we jump into a New Year, many affected by the housing market such as homeowners, landowners, and housing developers will be curious as to what the market will look like in 2022. Each year experts will take a look at the stats, reviewing market trends from the past year, comparing this with years gone by to determine a forecast for the new year. Rosconn Strategic Land have explained just what the predictions suggest for 2022 and what happened over the past year to influence the forecast.

Taking a look at what property site Rightmove have predicted for the year, 2022 could be a positive year for those wishing to sell, as buyer demand will continue to increase and buyer affordability is stretched.

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Housing Market Predictions

The forecast provided by Rightmove suggests the housing market is heading back to more “normal” levels after what some considered to be a frenzy over the past 18 months, thanks to the pandemic. In fact they believe there will be a much better and varied choice of properties for sale on the market, compared to those available in 2021. Although the market is not set to slow down as the property site have predicted a 5% rise in house prices this year.

With buyer demand so high, homeowners may see this as the ideal time to sell and relocate. The need for new homes continues to play an important role within the property industry, with developers under pressure to meet buyer needs, as well as government targets for housing in the UK.

What Happened To The Housing Market In 2021

To make these predictions and to create this forecast, those within the industry will have considered the market stats and trends of the past year. Reflecting on how the pandemic has affected the housing market and what buyers were doing last year. Within the past year house prices have reached record levels in the UK, now at an average price of £ 254,822 after an average of increase of nearly £24,000!

Thanks to a tax holiday in stamp duty rates, there really was frenzy of buyers, investors, and movers in 2021, ready to make a transaction. This saw an increase of activity after it was introduced in July 2020. Meaning the year 2021 was slightly busier than usual for the housing market.

Despite the rise in house prices in the last year, buyers were on the move, due to a pandemic-driven demand to relocated out of cities and suburban areas to rural areas where many workers can now work from home. This change in our working patterns is sure to make a huge difference to the buying trends over the next few years, as many ditch the commute for good.

As well as the demand for relocation, 2021 is now considered the best year for mortgage lending since 2007.

Despite the forecasts and predictions, in terms of the Covid pandemic, things may remain unclear for a while, as the UK continues to adjust to this ‘new normal’.