Is It the Right Time to Sell Your Home?

With the UK housing market riding higher than it has in years, this week on the Kiran Trivedi blog I ask whether it is the right time to sell your home.

The Rise and Rise of the UK Housing Market

The housing market’s a world away from where it was a few years ago in the wake of the financial crash. The UK’s astounding economic recovery, along with government schemes like ‘Help to Buy,’ have persuaded people to let go of their reservations and jump back on the property ladder.

And the figures certainly back it up. According to data from HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC), home sales are rising. Specifically, HMRC has noted that a total of 100,360 homes were sold in May, up from 95,600 in April; hitting their highest level of 2014 so far.

Mortgage Approvals Are Down… Again

So more homes sold logically suggests more people are buying; but is this set to continue. Not according to the British Bankers Association (BBA). Last week, the BBC reported that the BBA suggested that the "heat is coming out of the housing market."

The Association argued that despite the record number of current house sales, mortgage approvals – an indicator of the trajectory of the housing market – were down. Specifically, mortgage approvals slumped to 65,132 in May, down for the fourth consecutive month, and measured 3.5% lower in total than in the same month of last year.

The Mortgage Market Reviews Are making it Harder to Buy Homes

Chief economist at the BBA, Richard Woolhouse, attributed dropping mortgage approval figures to the introduction of Mortgage Market Reviews; new affordability tests for home loan applicants.

Woolhouse argued that: "These are the first mortgage approval figures we have seen since the introduction of the Mortgage Market Review, so it is significant they have fallen for the fourth month in a row."