Law and Lawyers Ltd, Conveyancing Solicitors in East London
12/01/2021
The new covid strain is spreading rapidly across the UK that the goverment was forced to implement a National Lockdown. Whilst the vaccine distribution could months to complete, new tighter restrictions are called for to reduce death rates and save thousands of UK residents.
The goverment is under immese pressure now to tighten the lockdown restrictions further, as NHS hospitals are getting oversubscribed with the number of patients. We could see a new strict and tighter lockdown rules in the coming weeks as a result.
The Cheif Medical Office of England, Professor Chris Witty has warned that the next few weeks will be the “worst weeks of pandemic”.
How a tighter lockdown will affect the property sector?
Sir Kier Starmer, yesterday, during his speech, where he was criticising the goverment’s handling of the Coronavirus crisis, the labour leader did not go so far to say that the housing market should be effectively shut down, as it was in the spring 2020 lockdown.
Boris Johnson has also warned that the government “may have to do more” if ministers feel current lockdown rules are not enough to stem the current spike in coronavirus cases.
In the latest guidance update on moving homes, The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has stated:
“It may become necessary to pause all home moves locally or nationally for a short period of time to manage the spread of coronavirus. We will let you know if this needs to happen.”
However there is a different view that the the closure of property market would significantly affect the Nations’ economy, thus governement would be considering a new plan to defend virus and keeping the property market open.
The latest data from Halifax shows that, residential property prices increased by 6% in 2020. The average price of a property in the UK reached a record high of £253,374 in December, up £14,295 year-on-year (propertyindustryeye.com).
However, we shall soon hear from the Prime Minister on the new guidance and plan to defend the coronavirus.
