Mortgages  

UK housing market is 'kaput', brokers claim

Paul Neal of Derbyshire-based Missing Element Mortgage Services: "With the price of literally everything increasing, as witnessed by Wednesday's inflation data, it is almost inevitable landlords will increase their rents.

"Mortgage rates are increasing along with their expenses and they will look to pass these increases onto their tenants. It's another obstacle for generation rent when it comes to saving to buy their own home."

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Nicholas Austin, senior sales negotiator at RiverHomes’s southwest London branch, has been working in London estate agency for decades.

He said part of the problem is the 'frictional cost' of moving and the lack of decent properties, which is affecting both renters and buyers. 

Austin commented: "The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

"What we have now is a situation where there aren’t enough rental flats because landlords are leaving the market and yet house prices are still high.

"The government is trying to encourage build to rent schemes but there aren’t enough properties available.

"There’s still a massive shortage of properties on the market and no one is willing to buy or sell unless they have to because the frictional cost of moving is so high.

"Basically, we’re in a quagmire and there’s no simple solution out of it."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com