I suppose you could call this classic free-market behaviour; although it’s outside influences, in the end, which are the deciding factor. Prices keep going up until they reach a point of unaffordability, the unaffordability in this case largely due to a quadrupling of interest rates. So those who want to sell ask less and, bingo, people start buying again. It just takes Bert and Beryl at No. 14 to understand that their house will never sell for as much as Ron and Marjory’s at No.32, despite their new drive and beautiful begonias. They reduce the price, and, for some at least, the spiral starts to unspiral. Of course, if you decide not to sell, your house won’t have gone down in value and will almost certainly at some point go up again. So, hang on in there, and you’ll do alright in the end. Sound familiar?
“John Lewis foray into BTR could result in losses of £57m”
I did predict a while ago that Waitrose Homes rather than Waitrose Home Deliveries could be the future. John Lewis were probably the most benign big business to decide to go into the housing rental market, a move which could swing things away from the unpredictability of the mass of private landlords who dominate the sector.
