Mortgage borrowing in the UK has reached its highest level since modern records began as buyers rush to beat the extended stamp duty holiday deadline of 30th June.
The completion of deals took net mortgage lending to £11.3bn in March – higher than in any month since 1993. Economists said the housing market was fuelled by homebuyers typically from higher income groups who had avoided the brunt of job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Andrew Cross from Arcus said low interest rates from the Bank of England were also helping to fuel the boom in mortgage borrowing.
Figures from the Bank of England showed that Rishi Sunak’s decision in the budget to extend the tax break until June did not dampen activity in the housing market in March 2021. Although the number of new mortgage approvals dropped to 83,000 in March, they remained higher than the 73,000 recorded in February 2020, the last month before the UK went into its first pandemic induced lockdown.
The housing market in Rutland is also experiencing a boom in line with the national trend, according to data from Right Move.
Sale prices in Rutland over the last year were 13% up on the previous year and 18% up on the 2018 peak of £325,873
Properties had an average price of £385,157
Detached houses accounted for the majority of sales in Rutland with an average selling price of £490,278
Semi-detached properties sold for an average of £262,066, whilst terraced properties fetching £303,904