The last eighteen months have been unusual, to say the least. Coronavirus, or more accurately COVID-19, has caused unprecedented chaos across the globe. Millions have died and the true infection rate is unlikely to ever be known since testing is not universal and many cases go unnoticed or undiagnosed since symptoms are very diverse and often absent altogether.
To prevent overloads to the healthcare system and generally protect the population, many countries have introduced measures to impede the spread of infection including some restrictions on trade and commerce. This has naturally caused the biggest downturn in the global economy in living memory.
Read Also: What challenges do UK landlords face during the Coronavirus pandemic?
With all that going on, it’s easy to forget Brexit and the years of uncertainty that lead up to it. No matter which side of the fence you are on, it is an accepted fact that the economy prefers stability and steady growth.
The effects of Brexit are largely unknown in the long term and may cause some stagnation or depression in the economy at least in the short term and people react to unpredictability with caution. Cautious people don’t normally make life-changing decisions like buying a new house.
Taking all this into consideration, you would expect a downturn in house prices or at least a pause in the recent surges around the country and yet counterintuitively the average price of a house is predicted to rise 25% in some areas. London has seen some sharp rises over the last few years so its rises are likely to be more modest but still significantly above inflation.
We can only conclude that the UK economy is in a relatively stable state if it can weather the double storms of Covid and Brexit and come out the other side with positive signals.