UK house sales and purchases set to jump by a fifth by 2020 – but will still be below 2007 levels
UK housing transactions are set to jump by a fifth by 2020, but this will still be eight per cent lower than pre-financial crisis levels, according to a new report today.
Conveyancing services provider My Home Move predicts that the number of annual property transactions will rise from the 1.23 million recorded last year to 1.49 million in 2020, equating to a rise of 21.1 per cent.
Read more: Property prices continue to soar
“Last year the number of deals was 24 per cent lower than 2007 and by 2020 it will be eight per cent lower, such was the shock to transaction levels,” said Rob Thomas, a former Bank of England economist who was commissioned to prepare the forecast.
“The research highlights the importance of first-time buyers’ access to high loan-to-value mortgages in order to pump much-needed liquidity into the market.”