Well you could say this was a budget that didn’t deliver any major surprises – with the 3 month extension of stamp duty relief widely expected! There was further help announced with a taper-off for properties up to £250,000 thereafter to the end of September, returning to normal levels from the 1st October 2021.
However, what appeared clear from the statement by Rishi Sunak is the intention to turn ‘Generation Rent’ into ‘Generation Buy’ – encouraging first time buyers with a 95% mortgage guarantee scheme!
So where does this leave the rental market?
It could be expected that there will be continued high levels of activity with buyers and sellers looking to take advantage of the stamp duty savings in the next few months. Maybe this could also lead to higher house prices in the short to medium term affecting landlords decision to expand their rental portfolio.
As first time buyers move out of rental properties this could lead to more rental properties becoming available which will help tenants in areas where there is strong demand and a shortage of supply, but could impact areas of oversupply with falling rents.
What with other factors such as the apparent shift towards home working, the desire for outside space and exodus out of large cities, it will be interesting to see if these trends continue once the lockdown is eased.
Its certainly going to be a challenging time for landlords moving forward!
