Housing market a "long way from the dark days of 2020"

21 May 2021

Commenting on the HMRC transaction figures for April which show a 35.8% drop on March, Jonathan Sealey, CEO at Hope Capital said: “It will come as no surprise that last month’s figures should have dropped so sharply at almost 36% on March, given the rush to beat the stamp duty deadline that was driving activity all through the first quarter. With that deadline now looming on the horizon for the end of June it’s likely we will see the same pattern towards the end of Q2.

“But it’s important to put today’s figures into context as the non-adjusted level of transactions is almost 200% up on April 2020. This was very much ground zero for the sector having just been plunged into lockdown and all the uncertainty that brought with it.

“So, even bearing in mind the slide we’ve seen today, we are still a long way from those dark days 12 months ago. And going forward there are real signs of optimism more widely with extremely positive retail sales figures out today, and forecasts for growth revised upwards to suggest a much stronger recovery to come this year.

“As a specialist lender we are seeing that reflected in the aspirations of our clients who are looking for alternatives to the high street lenders who weren’t there during the pandemic. People want more flexibility and choice to help get the deal done, which is a great opportunity for the specialist lending sector.”