Budget comment: No news is good news for the mortgage market

John Phillips, national operations director at Just Mortgages said: “As expected, the Budget was light on news for those in the property sector. There was some positive news, with significant funds allocated for building new homes on brownfield sites, but the benefits of this will not be felt for years.

“While some may have been calling for a review of stamp duty, the lack of action is actually a positive for the market.

“Last year transactions were artificially inflated by the tax savings and the pandemic, and since stamp duty has returned, the urgency has dropped, but demand has remained.

“In the coming months we will start to get a true reflection of the state of the mortgage market. Lenders are sending positive signals with the number of 95% LTV products currently available. While some surveyors are rightly cautious, the abundance of low deposit products suggests lenders do not feel a price-crash is imminent.

“The imbalance of buyers and sellers backs this position up. There are still over ten buyers for every one property listed, and although a sizeable sum has been allocated for new homes, these will take years to build and in the meantime, prices will continue to rise.

“The Chancellor’s latest Budget may have been light on news for those in the mortgage market, but in this instance, no news is good news.”

Published: 27 October 2021