According to Zoopla, the home sales pipeline is now 50% bigger than this time last year, with 140,000 more buyers rushing to buy a home before losing out on the Stamp Duty holiday, which is due to end on 31 March 2021.
Elsewhere, Nationwide have reported a total 91,500 mortgages approvals were granted in September, which is well above the August figure of 84,700 approvals and represents the highest level since September 2007.
The stampede to buy homes is being driven by a combination of the government’s Stamp Duty holiday, as well as people reassessing their housing needs following lockdowns. There are concerns that the current high volume of sales going through will create delays in the conveyancing process and this could be exacerbated by lockdowns. Zoopla have estimated that only 54% of sales agreed in January will have completed by the end of March, compared with 92% of those agreed in November.
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