Re-Starting the UK Residential Property Market

The UK government announced that as of 13 May 2020, buyers of property in England will now be able to complete their purchases. Show homes can re-open and estate agents, surveyors and removals firms can return to work, provided that they follow the new social distancing guidelines published by the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick (which can be found here). The government predicts that this will allow over 450,000 people to progress with their plans to move house.

Additionally, home builders are now allowed back on site under more flexible construction hours. Permitting construction to re-start on those developments which had been paused is a further positive step by the government and will hopefully mitigate any further delays to anticipated completion dates, which will give buyers more certainty and confidence in the UK property market.

Early indications reported in the UK press confirm that the publication of the latest guidelines could be having the government's desired effect. Despite the recent challenging times, record numbers of first time buyers have reportedly registered with estate agents and property websites following the government's announcement last week.