Despite the uncertainty of the last few months, as well as the government announcing a third lockdown at the start of the year – the property market is one sector that remains strong and buoyant in a period of economic turbulence.
As PR specialists based in the East Midlands, we work with many clients across the country in the property and construction industry, keeping up to date with the latest market news and monitoring its overall performance and ups and downs, to ensure we provide the best service for our clients.
In 2020, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a stamp duty holiday until 31 March 2021, its aim, to increase public demand for housing and help buyers cut some of the costs associated with getting onto the housing ladder. These efforts to boost the sale of properties during a difficult period proved to be much-needed fuel for the economy.
During the changing lockdown restrictions and circumstances of 2020, the housing market initially suffered a slump during the second quarter when it came to a halt. Following the reopening of the market, pent-up demand saw house prices and sales rise rapidly as people looked to buy and sell quickly and take advantage of the time-limited stamp duty holiday in order to save money.
House prices have since seen a dramatic climb over the last few months – the highest ever in fact – with the average house price in the UK now at a record £253,374*.
As the March 2021 stamp duty holiday deadline looms closer, leading property experts and businesses are calling for the government to extend the holiday to take the third lockdown into account and further drive forward the market.
The positives of extending the incentive would benefit prospective homebuyers and the market as a whole, and given the current lockdown, an extension may be the slice of good news buyers need to take the plunge and complete house purchases.
Despite the housing market adopting a position of ‘business as usual’, the restrictions on staying at home mean that transactions are taking longer – with people unable to complete and submit paperwork quickly, and estate agents, brokers, solicitors and lenders working from home and having to adapt to new methods and practices to accommodate the demand from customers.
Therefore, an extension of the stamp duty holiday would ease some of this pressure, allowing more time for transactions to be completed.
Though there has been some criticism towards the stamp duty holiday, with experts claiming that it may have hindered some buyers from purchasing a home rather than helping them, there is no doubt that the incentive was always designed to be a temporary fix to bolster the market, which seems to have been effective on the whole.
As one of the biggest drivers of the economy, it is seen by many in the industry as vital that the government extends the scheme once more, as we potentially face many more months of national economic instability.
Jennie Holland PR has extensive experience and expertise working with dynamic companies in the property, construction and law industries, including FHP Living, G F Tomlinson, JMP Solicitors, Taggart Homes, ALB Group, Influence, Howard Ward Associates and Land & New Homes Network. We implement targeted PR and digital marketing strategies to bolster your brands online and offline presence; by securing articles with backlinks in high domain authority media and providing a result-driven social media management service.
We can help you become famous amongst your target audiences. Contact us today to start your new year PR journey and let’s meet those targets together in 2021.