The Royal Institutions for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have expressed a more positive outlook for house prices, despite rising interest rates that are expected to impact buyers’ affordability. RICS’s reported that new buyer inquiries, prices, and expectations for the market were all less negative in May compared to previous months.
The UK’s property market and the lending landscape have undergone an exceptionally turbulent period. Inflation has remained in double figures, while the Bank of England has embarked on a rate hiking cycle that has culminated in a rapid rise in interest and mortgage rates. Consequently, during the fourth quarter of 2022, numerous lenders opted to temporarily halt or withdraw their products.
The Bank of England has raised interest rates 12 times since the end of 2021, a record run, as everybody is surely aware. Few expected this before it happened, either among forecasters, in the financial markets, and among mortgage borrowers.
Tuesday (9th May) saw Britain’s fourth biggest mutual, Skipton Building Society, launch its 100 percent Track Record Mortgage to help the 4.6million households across England, who are privately renting, get onto the property ladder without a deposit.
This is an interesting spring for the housing market. For every negative indicator, there is usually a more positive one and, while conditions have clearly improved in comparison with the panic of last autumn, housing is still adjusting to the higher interest rate environment.
Over the last couple of years, the Government has made several changes to how income and profits are taxed. Here’s a round-up of what you need to know for this year as a landlord and property investor.
