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2020 - A year when everything changed

As we all make preparations for the year ahead, here's a month-by-month recap of 2020's property market highs and lows:

January – this time last year we had an incredible boost to market activity, with the 'Boris bounce' leading to more new listings and sales being agreed following a period of political uncertainty and concern over Brexit in 2019. 

February –  news of the pandemic made its way across Europe; even though very few of us could have predicted just how much of an impact it would have at this stage! 

Meanwhile, the largest ever private real estate transaction took place, with IQ student accommodation being sold for £4.7bn.

March – with the pandemic set to massively impact companies, the government froze business rates for retail, leisure and hospitality tenants. 

However, the inevitable happened towards the end of the month, as the the UK was plunged into a complete lockdown.

April – the property market came to a standstill as the sector was forced to close for the foreseeable future. 

Firms across the country tried to battle the pandemic’s financial effect using the furlough schemes and support available. 

As a country, we started embracing the benefits of remote working, developing new skills and spending time on DIY projects around the house. 

May – the property market could finally return to some degree of normality. 

This involved the sector reopening and the resumption of sales and lettings activity to get the country safely moving again. 

June – the massive real estate company – Intu – entered into administration, putting many of the UK’s shopping centres at risk. 

We also saw the alert level downgrade from four to three, after a steady decrease in cases. 

The property market saw a steady and healthy return of pre-pandemic activity; especially for the lettings market with a rental bounce. 

July – a stamp duty holiday was announced, which would cut the rate to 0% for all properties under £500k until March 2021. 

The Government promised the biggest planning overhaul in decades, including a revamp to permitted development rights. 

We saw an extraordinary fundraising effort for the NHS, with 100-year-old Captain Tom Moore raising over £33m, as well as receiving a knighthood from the Queen.

August – prime property showed a remarkable recovery, reporting the biggest rise in deals compared to other areas since the end of the lockdown. 

The eat-out-to-help-out scheme went live, providing the hospitality sector with a much-needed boost.

September – as the number of cases rapidly rose, the UK was warned that a second wave of the virus had arrived. As a result, the Government imposed new restrictions on the nation. 

Many were concerned that this would hamper property market recovery, which turned out not to be the case, as sales agreed and tenant enquiries went from strength-to-strength.

October – demand continued to rise, spurred on by the possibility of stamp duty savings. 

Boris Johnson then announced that England would be placed in another lockdown. 

Thankfully, the property market would continue to operate throughout this period, so as to avoid the impact the first lockdown had on the sector.

November – the market remained resilient despite the second lockdown, with house prices increasing by 5.8%. 

Mortgage approvals reached record-breaking heights, according to Rightmove, with similar figures to 2007. 

It was announced that regions in England would be placed in different tiers based on case totals.

December – great news, with a COVID-19 vaccine being rolled out to those who were most vulnerable first. 

This boosted the whole of the economy, including the property market, allowing people to finally start seeing life as back to normal in the future.

If you have any questions, or you are looking to buy or sell in 2021, get in touch with our team.