Snap election: the effect on housing

Tue 25 Apr 2017

David Gibson says “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s an election coming next month. Well, we haven’t had the opportunity to watch the politicians we pay for swap half-truths for almost a year now, so Mrs May rightly assumed we were getting bored.

What does this mean for the housing market? Although a Conservative win, with an increased Parliamentary majority, seems the most likely outcome, there have been no shortage of electoral surprises over the last two years…

Some sellers may well choose to delay their selling plans, preferring to wait-and-see the outcome of June 8th.

History tell us however that electoral results, even a change of government, have very little effect on housing policy in the short or medium terms.

With an already reduced level of saleable properties on the market, it’s my view that canny sellers will put their property on the market very soon, to capitalise on the remainder of the spring market, before the summer lull. Stock levels are already low and buyers don’t have a great deal of choice – and we all know what that can do for prices…”