UK home sales expected to rise in Q1

London

ESTATE agents in the UK expect a flurry of residential property purchases in the first quarter of this year despite the nation's severe lockdown restrictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

They are optimistic because of the expectation that millions of vaccinations will begin to re-ignite the distressed economy, and the fact that stamp duty subsidies will end on March 31.

Investors are also buying again because they believe that inflation will begin to accelerate within a year or two.

Estate agents and property purchase consultants, however, have mixed feelings about the medium and long-term outlook for residential property prices.

Marc Schneiderman, director of Arlington Residential, an agent who specialises in prime London property, recalled that after the first lockdown wa…