According to the property website Zoopla, houses in the United Kingdom are on track to be sold at the lowest rate since 2012. One million sales are set to be completed this year, a fifth lower than last year. One of the leading factors is the sharp spike in interest rates, which has produced a sharp rise in rents and mortgage rates. Houses bought using cash without a mortgage are expected to sell as usual with no negative trend. A third of annual sales are usually accredited to existing homeowners taking out a mortgage to purchase another property. Still, it seems those investors are opting to wait until interest rates become more favourable despite the fall in house prices.

In previous years, we have enjoyed what now seems to be the ultra-low interest rate of 2%. Since then, the government and Bank of England embarked on its war on soaring prices; we have endured no less than 14 increases in the benchmark interest rate to its current level of 5.25%. Despite this, the sales of smaller properties containing 1-2 bedroom houses have not been hit as hard as properties containing 3-4+ bedroom houses. The bottom line is that it has become a generational struggle for tenants to find affordable housing against the backdrop of costly mortgages and landlords increasing rent to cover costs.