Saturday 3 August 2019 The Guardian •
41▲ Will your fi nances require urgent
fi rst aid after a no-deal Brexit?
ILLUSTRATIONS: CHRIS CLARKE/THE GUARDIANFantasy house hunt
Five homes in former
gatehouses
Page 47Sam’s smart buys
The best kids’ tech for
the summer holidays
Page 46- House prices and rents
The possible scenario
The Offi ce for Budget Responsibility,
the government’s independent
forecasting agency, reckons house
prices will tumble by around 10% in
a disorderly Brexit. The average UK
house price is £216,515, according
to Nationwide, so that would
translate into around £21,000 off
the average home, taking it back
below £200,000. In London, where
average prices stand at close to
£500,000, the fall would be closer
to £50,000. Prices in the capital are
already running at about 4.5% below
the level of a year ago , falling at the
fastest rate in a decade. Rents havebeen fl atter across the country, but
if a no-deal Brexit sees EU migrants
stop coming to the UK or returning
home, rents in some locations could
be expected to fall.What you can do
Most people will sit tight and do
nothing, preferring not to buy or sell
during such uncertainty. The OBR
sees property transactions falling
by a fi fth in the event of no deal,
which is bad news for estate agents,
removal companies and retailers of
furniture, carpets and curtains.
But there are always those who
have to buy or sell because their
job has moved or their family has
expanded. What should they do? Ifyou’re the seller, don’t fall for the
estate agent’s trick of over-pricing
a property to get the business, then
slashing later to get a sale. Examine
actual sold prices on your road –
Zoopla has an easily searchable
database – and take a bit off to refl ect
today’s market.
Buyers have a choice; defer a
purchase until November to get
clarity on Brexit (but if there is a
deal, then prices could start moving
up again) or make cheeky low-
ball off ers and see if a vendor is
desperate enough to accept. How do
you know a seller is desperate? Oneway is to search the property’s listing
history – most sites will say how long
ago it came to market, but won’t say
if it was removed then relisted with
a reduced price. But there are tricks,
such as those listed at Propcision , to
fi nd old data from Google.
There is far less data available on
rental markets, but if a landlord tries
to increase the rent in this market
they’re having a laugh; do your best
to challenge it.- Mortgages
The possible scenario
Faced with a recession induced
by a no-deal Brexit, the Bank of
England cuts base rate close to
zero and embarks on a monetary
loosening policy that sends interest
rates across the board to new lows.
Mortgage rates respond, with the
best fi xed rates dropping below 1%.No-deal Brexit
Yo ur fi nancial survival kit
The slide in sterling could
turn into a collapse. Your
job, savings, investments
and pensions could be at
risk. Prices in the shops are
likely to rise, while property
values could tumble. Is
there anything you can do
to protect yourself? We set
out the possible scenarios
and what, if anything, you
can do to prepare yourself.
By Patrick Collinson and
Miles Brignall10%
The amount the average house price
will fall in a disorderly Brexit, says
the Offi ce for Budget Responsibility£21,000
The amount knocked off the average
cost of a house, which would bring the
national price below £200,000 Continued Page 42РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS