If you read all the newspapers, the Brexit debate seems to
be focused solely on central London. Many commentators have said Brexit would
mean central London would have a lower standing in the world, meaning less
people would be employed in Central London, with the implication of lower
wages, fewer jobs etc., in Central London ... but we are in Melton Mowbray, not
Marylebone, Mayfair or any part of Zone 1 London.
We are home to pork pie, and whilst the central London
property market exploded after 2009, that explosion really and honestly didn’t affect
the Melton Mowbray property market. So, putting central London aside, what
would an ‘in’ or ‘out’ vote really mean for the 8,230 property owners of Melton
Mowbray?
Initially, over the coming months, on the run up to
referendum, I believe it will be like the run up to last year’s General
Election. With the short-term uncertainty in the country, quite often, big
decisions are put on ice and people are less likely to make big money purchases
i.e. buy a property. However, in the
four months up to last year’s Election, property values in Melton Mowbray
increased by 2.14%, not bad for a country that thought it would get a hung
parliament! So that argument doesn’t hold much weight with me.
Post vote, should the UK opt to
leave Brussels, there would be a much more noteworthy impact. I believe that a
vote to stay in the EU would see the Melton Mowbray property market return to a
status quo very quickly, but the contrasting result could lead to some changes.
The principal menace to the Melton Mowbray (and UK) housing market could be variation
(in an upwards direction) in interest rates as a result of a Brexit, which
could theoretically see the cost of mortgages grow swiftly, pricing many out of
the market … but then two thirds of landlords buy without a mortgage, so that
won’t affect them.
I suspect whatever decision the electorate of Melton
Mowbray and the country as a whole makes, over the long term it won’t have a
major effect on the Melton Mowbray property market. We have seen off ‘the end
of the world’ credit crunch of 2008/9 and subsequent property crash, the 1988 Nigel
Lawson induced post dual-MIRAS property crash, the 1979 Winter of Discontent
property crash, the 1974 oil crisis that stimulated another property crash ...
hell, we can even go back nearly a century with the 1926 post General Strike
slump in property prices...
Today, property prices are 163.96% higher than 21
years ago in Melton Mowbray and are 4.1% higher than 12 months ago. So, make
your own decision on 23rd of June 2016 safe in knowledge that
whatever the result, there might be some short term volatility in the Melton
Mowbray property market, but in the long term (and property investment is a
long term strategy) there aren’t enough houses in Melton Mowbray to live in
either to buy or rent … and until the Government allow more properties to be
built – the Melton Mowbray property market, will be just fine ... even if it
has a little blip in the summer, there could be some property bargains on the
run up to Christmas to be had!
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