Almost half of home owners in London putting selling plans on hold due to EU vote

Almost half of home owners in London intend to put any plans they have to buy or sell on hold under after the referendum in June on the future of the UK in the European Union.

A survey has found that 47% will not get involved until after the vote and Bishop’s move, which commissioned the poll, believes that uncertainty over the outcome of the EU referendum is likely to slow London’s housing market in the coming months.

In the poll 20% of Londoners said whether the UK stays or leaves the EU would not play any part in their decision to put their house on the market, and a further 32% said they weren’t sure.

But 30% of home owners in London also believe that leaving the EU would actually strengthen the value of their home compared to 13% who believe that leaving the EU will not have an impact at all on the value of their home. Just13% in the neighbouring South East region said that an ‘out’ vote would add value to their property.

The survey also discovered a significant proportion of younger generations would prefer to wait for the outcome of the EU vote. Some 46% of those aged 16 to 24 and 43% of those aged 24 to 35 said they intend to wait for the outcome of the vote compared to 16% of those aged between 45 to 54 and just 9% of those aged 55 and above.

With almost half of London home owners willing to wait until after the EU referendum, in contrast just 11% in the East of England, 14% in the North East, and 15% in Yorkshire and the Humber claimed that they would prefer to wait until after the EU referendum to sell their property.

‘This paints a picture of the both the attitude towards the EU referendum amongst London homeowners and also their approach towards the price of property in the capital. It’s actually a very similar situation we found in Scotland during its 2014 independence referendum,’ said Chris Marshall, sales and marketing director at Bishop’s Move.

‘Significant policy decisions can severely impact the UK housing market and our own research last year also found almost a quarter of those looking to buy and sell a property delayed their move by one to four months in order to wait for the outcome of the General Election,’ he pointed out.

‘However, whilst these results point to a slowdown in the build-up to June, we fully anticipate business to resume as usual, particularly when the school holidays arrive and everyone wants to get their moves completed during the break,’ he added.

[Source:- Property wire]