After 14 years of Conservative rule, the Labour party will now take the helm at Downing Street. All the parties have made promises regarding what they will do for the housing market<\/a>, so now it is up to Labour to push ahead with its plans.<\/p>\n In terms of how general election outcomes have historically impacted the property sector<\/a>, it seems there are much bigger issues at play affecting the market than who is in power at the time. However, there is much speculation that, much like the ‘Boris bounce’, today’s outcome could provide a boost in confidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under a Labour government between 1997 and 2010, house prices increased by around 176%, according to the Office for National Statistics, although this does take into account the dip that happened as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n Under Conservative leadership – including the period of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition between 2010 and 2015, house prices increased by 64.7% over the 14-year period between 2010 and 2024, from\u00a0from \u00a3170,846 in May 2010 to \u00a3281,373 April 2024.<\/p>\n David Fell, lead analyst at property firm Hamptons<\/a>, commented: “In the short term, it’s likely to be Threadneedle Street – The Bank of England – rather than Downing Street which will have the greater influence on the market.<\/p>\n “Higher mortgage rates<\/a> are likely to keep a close cap on house prices over the course of at least 2024.”<\/p>\n Matt\u00a0Thompson, head of sales at\u00a0Chestertons, says:<\/strong> \u201cLabour\u2019s announcement to lower\u00a0the\u00a0stamp duty\u00a0threshold for first-time buyers from \u00a3425,000 to \u00a3300,000 in April 2025\u00a0has left many wondering if the party will introduce any\u00a0major initiatives that will\u00a0make it easier to get on the property ladder.<\/p>\n “Buyers will be looking for Labour to fulfil its pledge to introduce the Freedom to Buy scheme but are concerned that buying a first home continues to be challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cLabour\u2019s plan to increase the already higher stamp duty rate on purchases of residential property by non-UK residents by 1% is unlikely to have a major impact on London\u2019s property market. The capital remains a global city that attracts international professionals and investors who will simply adapt their property search by lowering their budget or by buying in a part of the city where they get more property for their money.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u00a0Jennings, head of lettings at<\/strong>\u00a0Chestertons<\/strong>, says: \u201cLabour promised to scrap Section 21 \u2018no fault\u2019 evictions on day one of the new government which tenants would have seen as one of the party manifesto\u2019s stronger pledges. Especially after the Renters Reform Bill was abandoned when a snap General Election was called, many were left wondering if Section 21 will be scrapped any time soon at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Nigel\u00a0Bishop of Recoco Property Search\u00a0<\/strong>says: \u201cLabour\u2019s manifesto pledged to improve the UK\u2019s housing market and the party will be under immense pressure to deliver. One promise was to build 1.5 million homes and we are interested to learn more about\u00a0Labour\u2019s plans to utilise \u201cpoor quality\u201d green belt areas as this will likely be met by protests from some local residents and organisations.<\/p>\n \u201cLabour\u2019s pledge to levy\u00a0VAT\u00a0on school fees has been labelled one of the party\u2019s more controversial ones. This will leave many parents unable to afford private school education and inevitably impact on the property market by boosting demand for properties in close proximity to good state schools. Properties in\u00a0these catchment areas can already ask a 20% premium\u00a0and\u00a0a\u00a0politically-caused boost in demand for such homes will\u00a0create an even more competitive market for buyers.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the run-up to the General Election we already saw house hunters, who previously paused their activity to observe the political development, resume their search.\u00a0Now that a party has been elected and economists predict a likely interest rate cut over the coming months, we expect further buyers to follow suit. \u201d<\/p>\n Paresh Raja, CEO of Market Financial Solutions,<\/strong> said: \u201cThe accepted logic is that elections bring uncertainty and are therefore bad news for the property market.<\/p>\n “But there have been some important differences this time around: Rishi Sunak called for the vote to take place a lot earlier than expected, and the result (a Labour victory) has seemed highly likely from the off. As a result, there has been less uncertainty than there could have been, and now the ballots have closed, we should see a prompt return to more stable, \u2018business as usual\u2019 conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are enough signs to suggest the market is ready for a post-election uptick in activity. The number of homes coming onto the market in the first half of 2024 is 22.9% higher than last year, while economists are still predicting that the Bank of England will cut the base rate twice before the end of the year, with the first potentially coming on 1st August.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, despite these reasons for optimism, there is clearly no room for complacency. Political and economic turbulence remains, so lenders have to focus on supporting brokers and borrowers as best they can. Optionality and flexibility will be key in the second half of this year, and lenders have to commit to providing borrowers with the financial products they need to both benefit from any opportunities that a potentially more stable climate could provide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Sir Keir Starmer prepares to step into Number 10 after a landslide Labour victory, will the outcome have any major impact on the UK housing market? After 14 years of Conservative rule, the Labour party will now take the helm at Downing Street. All the parties have made promises regarding what they will do… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":6099614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,6],"tags":[280,733,216],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6099677"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6099686,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6099677\/revisions\/6099686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6099614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6099677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6099677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6099677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Interest rates have a bigger impact<\/h3>\n
What has Labour promised?<\/h3>\n
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Comment from the industry<\/h3>\n