If you’re someone who rents a home – which is a large percentage of the population, particularly young people – there might be even more bad news on the way as the cost-of-living crisis accelerates into winter here in the UK.
As well as the price of literally everything skyrocketing, there’s a good chance that rental prices are set to keep going up as well, even as the cost of buying a house stays more stable.
According to lettings agency Hamptons, the price of buying a house is likely to stay fairly level into the end of 2023, with property sales taking a hit because of less first-time buyers and mortgaged buyers.
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Everyone is going to be skint, so nearly no-one is likely to be able to buy a new house next year, in layman’s terms.
However, the predictions aren’t all bad for those wishing to get onto the market, it just might take a while to get to the recovery, as things are set to possibly take a turn for the better in 2024.
That could be thanks to a rebounding because of demand that will go unfulfilled in 2023.
However, even though renting is already an expensive thing to do, the forecast suggests that prices could continue to go up over the coming years, due in part to ‘the increasingly high-cost environment faced by landlords’.
Won’t somebody think of the poor landlords, eh?
Hamptons’ research claims that rent will rise by around five percent next year and in 2024, before dropping back down by about one percent to four percent in 2025.
Hamptons’ head of research, Aneisha Beveridge, said: "With more stringent affordability testing in place since the financial crash and a record share of outright homeowners, we're likely to see fewer repossessions and forced sales which were a key driver of house price falls in 2008.
"Low-yielding landlords are the group most likely to sell up as they come under pressure from rising mortgage costs and new legislation.
"Longer term, we expect the market to return to its traditional cycle.
"Price growth will begin to recover in 2024, with London leading the way as a new cycle dawns in 2025.
"However, stretched affordability will mean we're likely to see considerably less price growth than in the past."
It’s just one piece of good news after the other at the minute, isn’t it?
Still, at least there’s a robust plan in place to deal with it all, right?
Oh well.
Tom Wood