Rightmove comment on Labour election win

Commenting on the election result, Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert said: “The certainty of having the next government in place will be good for the market, and we wait to see the housing policies that are prioritised. We can see in our data that in previous election years, there has been a slight bounce in home-mover activity after an election has taken place – so the same could happen this year in the short term, particularly against a background of a potential Bank Rate cut on the horizon, and lowering mortgage rates.

“It is crucial that the government considers the impact of any new policies on the wider market, as a policy designed with one group in mind often has knock-on implications for another group of home-movers. Earlier this week Rightmove quizzed Keir Starmer about what he would do to help housing, and it’s encouraging to see that Labour’s manifesto focused on building more homes and planning reform. Creating more homes for sale and for rent quickly, whilst maintaining quality is a pressing issue, to ensure there are more homes to meet the demand.

“We think there is an opportunity to go further in giving support to first-time buyers. Whilst a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme provides the certainty that this option will be available, from our research we can see that only a small number of first-time buyers are likely to benefit from it. Making the existing stamp duty thresholds permanent for first-time buyers would be a start, and then there is an opportunity to look at innovative solutions to help first-time buyers with both their deposit, and being able to borrow enough from a lender in the longer term.”