Do you plan on buying a second home in the UK in 2022? The reasons can be many. Whether you want a holiday home, rental property, or a bigger house to accommodate your work-from-home setup, the market for a second/third home seems to be active in recent times. In this article we’ve shared some best tips for buying your second home, so scroll down!
Best Tips for buying your second home
According to the English Housing Survey 2018-19, 772,000 households in England reported owning a second home. This number has increased from 572,000 in the 2008-09 survey. A total of 2.4 million households reported owning more than one residential property. These statistics are before the pandemic took over the world and forced us indoors.
The rise of the pandemic has brought several changes in the global real estate market. The scenario is no different in the UK. Knowing the impact of the pandemic and the influence of WFH (Work from Home) will give you a better idea of the current real estate market. You’ll have the necessary information to make the right decision when buying a home to suit your needs. Let’s look at each aspect in detail.
Impact of Pandemic on Real Estate
The lockdowns and subsequent WFH brought an array of changes in the UK real estate market. The commercial real estate suffered losses due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. The demand for office real estate went down even in the first half of 2021, while the vacancies have increased.
The housing real estate had a different story to tell. The UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced a stamp duty holiday in July 2020 to boost real estate after it was affected by the pandemic. Homebuyers were also provided with a government guarantee scheme with a 5% down payment. These two schemes did the needful to promote housing real estate.
The market prices of properties increased, especially in cities like Liverpool, Nottingham, and Manchester in April 2021. Statista reported that there has been a record increase in prices during Dec 2019 and Dec 2020 in the UK. The same trend continued in 2021. The report shared by the government of the UK showed that the average price of a house has gone up by £25,000 from Nov 2020 to Nov 2021. The average house price in the UK in Nov 2021 was £271,000. This should help you figure your payment for the second home.
The increase in home prices resulted in a decrease in the rental prices, clearly seen in the pricing on rental apartments in London.
Another interesting development is the increase in house prices across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Wales recorded the highest increase at 12.1%, followed by Scotland with 11.4%, Northern Ireland with 10.7%, and England with 9.8%.
Work From Home and Its Influence on Real Estate
When the governments announced lockdowns for weeks and months, companies needed to make immediate changes to the working schedule and adopt the WFH set up on a large scale. Even though some companies already had employees working from home, it was during the pandemic that WFH became a norm for every employee.
Companies and employees discovered the advantages and disadvantages of remote working. People struggled and settled into a new routine. However, they also realized the need to own a bigger and more spacious home. After all, working from home required an office setup right at home.
While WFH and pandemic resulted in a loss for commercial real estate, the housing market saw an increasing demand for bigger houses and second homes. WFH allows people to live in localities away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There’s no need to live a couple of feet away from the city centre or the bus stop. This put the focus on small towns and suburbs.
A small town offers a quality standard for a lesser cost of living. Many first-time and second home buyers began to look at suburbs and small towns with renewed interest. They can buy larger homes for affordable prices and pay less for the mortgage.
Factors to Consider When Buying a Second Home to Work from Home:
The demand for larger homes away from the cities has changed the real estate market dynamics. It’s imperative to keep in mind certain factors when you buy a second home to work from home.
➡️ Affordability
The market may be ripe to make an investment. You might really need a bigger home. But before you go ahead and say yes to a house, you need to look at your finances. Calculate your payments, mortgages, taxes, bills, etc., to determine how much you can spend on the second home without crunching your finances.
Sites like MortgageCalculator.uk has features like estimating mortgage affordability based on income –
https://www.mortgagecalculator.uk/affordability/
➡️ Space Requirements
How much extra space do you require? If you are living in a two-bedroom house, will you need to buy a three-bedroom house or something even bigger? A huge and spacious home sounds great but remember the market. You’ve got to pay for it.
➡️ Location
Yes, small towns and suburbs are now hot localities. That said, cities are still popular. How much do you have to pay for a house of the same size in both regions? If your company ends WFH, you’ll have to go back to the office again.
Final Words:
Don’t rush into a deal because someone else might grab the house before you do. You need a house that’s perfect for you in all ways, be it the location, price, or layout. It’s okay to wait for the right deal. In fact, we recommend it. Understand the market conditions and your requirements before buying a second home.
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I couldn’t imagine having a second home, but maybe that’s because I live in America, and most people typically only have one home. Is it a common thing to own two houses if you live in the UK?
Yeah, it’s quite common here and India 🙂 We usually give our first home on rent and move to our second house.
Buying a home is a huge thing. So much needs to be done for this.
Right! Thank you 🙂
We do not live in the UK but luckily I already worked from home when the pandemic hit. My husband only had to stop for a short time. Luckily we had enough space to do so in our home. This was a great post full of helpful information.
Thank you 🙂
Buying a home is such a big deal. I don’t live in the UK, but here in the U.S., prices have really gone up. There is definitely a lot to think about when getting a home.
Thank you 🙂
The prices of homes here in our area is really expensive. I’ve heard the average price is $400k. It’s ridiculous!
Gosh! Thank you 🙂
If I got a second home, I think I would want a tiny house in an area completely opposite of where I live now. That could be in a huge city or in the mountains!
That’s great! Thank you 🙂
These are all really great tips thank you so much for sharing this with us this is such a really big help!
You’re welcome 🙂