A perspective on uncertainty in the market...

And he has a point; global, existential events are happening at an increasingly frenetic pace, and ‘World War 3’ gets brought up in conversation (both in the media and the pub) more than any of us would like.

Around the time of writing this article, Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada went from 25%, to 50%, and back to 25% in a single day… and we don’t exactly know what we’re in for here in the UK on the tariff front, and what effect that might have on our economy.

I could go on, but we all read enough news as it is - I think the point is made!

So, in response, I told the agent about two conversations I had in the last year with some experts in their field, to put some of this into perspective.

Firstly, was Steve Carroll, a brit living in Australia who had been in the top flight of REA (i.e., Rightmove down under).

He highlighted the immense resilience of the UK property market… to have been through, in the last 5 years, Brexit, Covid, elections, interest rate and inflation fluctuations off the scale in recent memory, and war in Europe…and come out relatively unscathed!

Property prices continue to rise, transaction levels are relatively steady, and its hard to see something on the horizon to un-stick that position.

He credited UK agents too. If war broke out in Perth on the West Coast of Australia, the Sydney market would be hugely affected, he explained. Ukraine is as close to the UK as Perth is to Sydney, more or less, and yet the market moves on at a pace.

The second was a conversation with Paul Jamieson, of data company TwentyEA, as we reviewed the 2024 property market.

He told me that out of everything that happened in 2024, elections, US elections, the budget (and the preceding six months doom and gloom), Ukraine, Gaza, the whirlwind of Trumps return just this side of the New Year etc… of everything that happened in 2024, can you guess what had the biggest impact on ‘slowing’ the property market down?

It was The Euros… as a country, the concept of football coming home is more important to us than actually finding a home, apparently!

I have to say, there is something particularly ‘British’ about that, and I love it…

So next time you’re watching the news, concerned about global events and what impact they might have on the property market…just wait till the sport comes on, and you’ll have a better idea of how active the market is going to be!!!