With more and more employees returning to offices and better mortgage deals on the table, many experts have predicted a rebound in London property prices with consensus forecasts at 3-4 per cent in 2025. The direction of mortgage rates has been key to buyer decisions over the past two years. Those who have held off moving, due to a harsher mortgage rate environment, will return to the market. In the first instance, this is likely to be driven by needs-based buyers, with more movers gradually returning as rates drop further. But buyer sentiment could be hit by economic uncertainty in the UK, a potentially slower pace of interest rate cuts due to higher gilt yields, and Present Trump’s tarriffs upsetting world trade – who knows where that will leave us.
On the up side, there has been a noticeable increase in Americans purchasing in central London – very welcomed by those vendors of properties whose market has been hit hard by the additional stamp duty surcharge for second homes, changes in ‘non-doms’ taxation and VAT on school fees.
