“Ten years after the Brexit vote, many consumers continue to associate the period with economic uncertainty, and that is often reflected in attitudes towards the housing market,” said Scott Clay (pictured right), director at Together.
“While it’s difficult to isolate Brexit from other major events we’ve experienced over the past decade, including the pandemic, inflation surge and rapid increases in interest rates, and, more recently, tensions in Iran cooling buyer confidence – the reality for many households has been higher borrowing costs and greater affordability pressures over the past decade.
Clay added that Brexit had introduced new trade barriers, supply chain friction — directly affecting the cost of new builds — and a reduction in EU construction workers.
“These factors, coupled with more recent increases in red tape, may have hampered the viability of many housing developments, with continued weak demand threatening the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes by 2029,” he said. “These findings highlight ongoing concerns related to economic stability and raise the issue of reduced consumer confidence and investment hesitancy in the housing sector.
“While overall UK property prices have remained relatively stable, defying doom predictions that the market would crash post-Brexit, London in particular has seen cooling due to a drop in international buyers and EU nationals. This has led many developers, investors and home buyers to look to the North and Midlands for better value.”