Almost forty per cent of house hunters believe the property market will improve if the Conservatives win the General Election, a survey from a property website has revealed.
FindaProperty.com, a UK property website, surveyed 14,800 of its users on whether they felt the property market would improve, remain unchanged, or deteriorate given three different election outcomes.
The resulst show that if the Tories emerge victorious, 39% of house hunters believe the market will improve, while a further 39% think it will remain unchanged. Just one fifth (22%) think the market will deteriorate under a Conservative government.
Revealing how the Conservative party is still considered the ‘home owner’s party’.
In contrast, 14% of house hunters believe the market will improve following a Labour victory, with almost half (48%) saying it will remain unchanged and 38% feeling it will deteriorate.
A hung parliament is the most worrying scenario for house hunters. Less than one in ten (9%) feel the market will improve if no party wins an outright majority, with 43% believing it will deteriorate.
Broker, Michael White, Chief Executive of Email Mortgages, isn’t too surprised by the figures. “The Conservatives have made it clear they will abolish the HIP [Home Information Pack], which is, after all, a complete waste of time and has never particularly helped expedite the buying and selling of homes as was the prime intention.
“Arguably, the HIP main component was to be a property survey report, yet this was dropped, following pressure from the industry, prior to launch in 2007. It the Tories are elected the HIP will go and this would be good for the market.
“As for their policies on deregulation, I’m not sure the home owner’s got it quite right. I don’t believe the Tories would disband the FSA, rather they would give it a much needed overhaul and new label.
“It would therefore remain, but as a new entity – hopefully a less autonomous and intrusive one, because at the moment I think its methods are too controlling; there’s no such thing as a risk free market,” he said.
Despite the uncertainty around the outcome of the election, house hunters are not letting the impending election affect their decision to continue searching for a property. Eight in ten (83%) people searching for a property stated that they will continue their search despite the upcoming election and three quarters (74%) said that the election result would not stop them buying a property.
This is good news as the number of people trying to sell their homes has hit its highest level since May 2007, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Rics announced on Monday this week that new instructions from sellers in March outstripped enquiries from would-be buyers for the third month in a row.
RICS spokesperson, Ian Perry, said: “With the general election approaching and uncertainty growing over the political direction of the country, many vendors who were previously inclined to sit on the sidelines now appear eager to put their properties on the market.
“For the time being, many of the key housing market indicators are still positive or stable.
However, with stocks increasing and sales decreasing we may see some modest price falls in some regions although London, the South East and Scotland are continuing to perform well.”
However, Nigel Lewis, property expert at FindaProperty.com, believes that those buying property are unlikely to let the election put them off their search, despite “many home buyers having an opinion on what will happen to the market after the election”.
Commenting on these opinions he said: “It seems the majority of house hunters believe the best thing for the property market would be a Conservative victory. Their policies on the deregulation of the market and ensuring only millionaires pay inheritance tax have really struck a chord with the voting public.
“Many polls are pointing towards a hung parliament though and that is worrying. House-hunters feel this would be the worst scenario for the property market as the parties battle it out to form a coalition, putting policies on hold while compromises are made.”
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