UK home buyers count the cost of Kwarteng’s mini-Budget
Until last week Charles Wycherley saw market conditions for his family estate agency in southern England as like being “on top of a mountain, but looking down” — there were signs of a gentle slowdown after having notched up strong house sales for many years.
But in a few brutal days, since chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan for £45bn of unfunded tax cuts sent financial markets into a tailspin, Wycherley has had 11 house sales fall through, most of them because buyers without a formal mortgage offer in hand were suddenly facing borrowing costs they could not afford.
“From where I am standing now it’s a disaster zone,” said Wycherley, whose business is based in the town of Lewes in Sussex. “I felt all along that there was going to be a correction [in the housing market]. But for a government to actually put in measures that have brought it on is mind-boggling.”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Tax Cognition
