The Ups & Downs Of A Housing Market During The Pandemic

By James Forrester, Managing Director - Barrows and Forrester Estate and Letting Agents
 
Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a sweeping virus that has infected over 130 million people and killed almost 3 million of us, would somewhat deter interest in buying property. But you’d be wrong, certainly as far as resulting values are concerned.

Remarkably, the planet’s response to the biggest health crisis since the Spanish Flu has been to double down on property. In fact, when you look at each country individually you’ll see some incredible outcomes with hardly any seeing a reduction in house prices at all. Of the top 56 countries that I’ve analysed only Malaysia, Hong Kong, Spain, Hungary, Morocco and India have seen a decline in property values.
The nation’s where the property market is shrugging off Covid like a common cold include Turkey up 30.3%; New Zealand up 18.6%; Slovakia up 16%; and Russia up 14% - between Q4 2019 and Q4 2020.
This is pretty incredible, all things co...