Will coronavirus sink the property market?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Britain is on lockdown and so is the property market.

The Government has told people not to move home while the coronavirus lockdown is on, and the property market has been frozen as estate agents are instructed not to do viewings and valuations and surveys can’t happen.

Meanwhile, banking giants Barclays and Halifax have axed a big chunk of their mortgage ranges – only offering new deals through brokers to those with the largest deposits – and the industry says it has been overwhelmed with requests for mortgage holidays.

Amidst all this, many are asking the inevitable question: ‘What will happen to house prices?’

On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost look at what buyers and sellers can do, how the freeze is affecting those due to move, and explore what could happen next for the property market.

They also discuss Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s rescue package for the self-employed and why it is a welcome measure that seems to have some glaring gaps.

And finally, among all this coronavirus chaos, the team remind listeners not to forget the tax deadline and why in troubled times it’s even more important to use the tax-friendly investing and saving that pensions and Isas provide.

We won’t send a drone round to make sure you do it, but you’ve been warned.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Is Money's podcast is brought to you in partnership with the financial services compensation scheme.
0:05.0	Check your financial products at FSCProtected at fscs.org.uk forward slash this is money.
0:11.3	Welcome to This Is Money. I'm Georgie Frost and alongside me and editor Simon Lambert today is assistant editor Lee Boyce.
0:18.2	And the housing market has been thrown into turmoil as a result of
0:22.5	coronavirus. A property market freeze, sales falling through, and lenders only offering cash to
0:28.5	those with the biggest deposits. One X for buyers and sellers. And what about renters? Also today,
0:34.3	the Chancellor finally throws a lifeline to the self-employed,
0:40.8	though they have to wait until June to get it, but is it enough?
0:44.6	And should those who work for themselves pay more in the future?
0:48.9	Plus, have markets turned a corner and don't forget your ICER.
0:50.9	You can stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news,
0:55.2	just go to this ismoney.co.uk or download the app.
1:01.0	But first, the housing market, as with so much else right now, has been thrown into chaos as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Banks limiting their mortgage
1:06.4	lending, removal firms shutting their doors and many home buyers have been left in limbo.
1:11.6	Those in the middle of the process have been telling this is money,
1:14.6	that they now don't know when they'll be able to complete on the purchase of their new home,
1:19.6	if at all, with reports many sales are falling through.
1:23.6	So Simon, what are you hearing? What's going on?
1:26.6	As if buying a home wasn't stressful enough,
1:30.2	now people have been told that they simply can't do it. So we've obviously got the position
1:35.6	where we're in lockdown. So people can't go out. People are only allowed to go out to do essential
1:41.3	things, essential shopping and so on, one form of exercise every day and so on,
	...

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