The lending environment is highly competitive and that means more savings possibilities for home buyers, home movers, and homeowners. Lenders and brokers are offering very attractive products and many are connected to historically low interest rates. That means borrowing is cheap, and cheaper than ever before as some offers have interest rates under 1%. In comparison to rates offered two years ago or more, which were considered very low and abnormal, the difference is large in terms of offering substantial savings.

The opportunity to remortgage is perhaps the best it has been in many decades. Factors have come together to make the current lending market too attractive to overlook. Lenders have been competitive, but the level has risen and many have just recently launched below 1% fixed two year deals. The possibility of paying less than 1% for two years is an unheard of situation. Not even during the financial crisis were interest rates so low.

The stamp duty holiday was put in place last year to assist home buyers in the housing market. The government offered complete tax relief for properties purchased up to £500,000. The deadline for the stamp duty holiday was set for the end of March. However, as the pandemic continued to impact the economy and as the deadline neared it appeared that home buyers were backing away. The decision was made to extend the tax holiday until the end of June where the relief would be reduced and the total end would occur at the end of September.

The housing market has shown remarkable resilience during the pandemic. Unexpectedly, lockdowns caused a review of dwellings and a strong desire grew for more space. Space to work, study, get fit, and a garden to spend time outdoors safely. The desire for a grander area of space may have been born from the pandemic, but it looks like it is going to stay as demand in the housing market has remained strong despite access to vaccines and relief from lockdowns.

The pandemic took a toll on the economy and that was of course expected. No one thought that lockdowns would find the economy booming. Yet, one sector of the economy did boom, and it was not expected. The housing market, which had already proved to be resilient during the turmoil of Brexit, again emerged as a surprise entry on the economic spreadsheet. The pandemic actually created a sort of perfect storm. More so for homeowners than home buyers, yet some benefitted, at least those that took a leap of faith and risk and bought early on.

While buying a home can feel like sinking into a major load of debt, at the same time it is considered an investment. That is if the home continues to add value. The value is of course a tricky thing to predict. Just like one runs the risk in investing in other things like savings, stocks, or even crypto currency, a home could come out to be a major win or a loss.