Will we,
won’t we? It’s the topic that’s dominated the news for a few weeks now and in
10 days we’ll know the outcome, but what effect will the BREXIT vote have on
the local property market? There’s been a lot of commentary on this in the
national press, with the consensus being that if we vote to leave the housing market
may suffer. I was at a meeting earlier today with a group of investors who said
their purchasing activity was ‘on hold’ until after the vote, but when
challenged they didn’t really seem to know why. There’s no doubt that the
referendum has made people pause for breath, but getting them to explain it is
another matter.
I can
see why the London property market may suffer if we do vote to leave the EU. In
the capital, the market is built on foreign money, particularly at the higher
end, so a change in people’s perception about the UK could conceivably have an
effect. But in Northampton where 95% of my landlords are UK Nationals, I don’t
get the argument that BREXIT would cause much to change. The fact would remain
that there’s a massive shortage of property in this country, and as an agency
we are, and always have been, desperate for more good quality properties to let.
Unless you believe that upon BREXIT people will bail out of Northampton en mass
and the place will become a ghost town, I can’t there being much cause to worry.
The more
serious threat it seems is the government’s recent intervention in the housing
market by raising stamp duty. This has certainly caused a lull in the number of
people buying – although I suspect this may be temporary. It’s also caused
rents to rise which will please many landlords in the short term but may
frustrate them in the long term if their tenants struggle to pay. More challenges
are to come in 2017 when mortgage relief is cut back – this will certainly
cause some landlords to exit the sector, with rents rising accordingly. These
two issues are having a greater impact on the day to day property market in
Northampton than BREXIT will. 
