Hope Capital comment on property sales stats from HMRC

24 November 2020

Commenting on property transaction figures from HMRC published today, Jonathan Sealey, CEO, of specialist lender Hope Capital said: “With property sales in October up by almost 10% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted), the sector is clearly heading in the right direction as recovery from the lockdown in March continues.

“Certainly, it reflects the level of business we’ve seen in recent months. But the challenge now is for people who are still looking to benefit from the stamp duty holiday as the system is straining under the weight of demand.

“Even with the positive news around vaccines, there is still a huge amount of uncertainty around the economy as we look beyond Christmas, such as the number of people coming off furlough schemes and possibly into redundancy.

“At the same time demand in the housing market is likely to increase further during the first quarter of the new year, if the March 31 stamp duty deadline stays in place. And it’s not clear whether high street lenders are in a position to deal with that.

“That’s why it’s crucial for brokers and borrowers right now to consider alternative finance or specialist lending in order to get the deal over the line more quickly. There is more than one route to making that deal, whether it’s a straight forward residential transaction or buy-to-let, and the deals are there to be made.”