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Sales of flats have halved as Land Registry data reveals for the first time how a scandal over the shoddy construction of recent British homes is freezing the housing market. Flat transactions worth £1.6bn were lost in Sept alone. My p1 story today https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8
Transactions for flats fell at almost twice the rate of those for houses in Sept (compared to Sept 2019), suggesting the cause is not the pandemic
This is 2nd week in a row #EndOurCladdingScandal is on the front page of @thesundaytimes https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8
Miles Shipside at @Rightmove as flat sales halve: “Sellers of flats typically prop up the rest of the home-buying chain, and with thousands fewer every month the traditional property ladder structure of the UK’s housing market is seriously undermined" https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8
“These are shocking numbers... It’s like taking half the first rung of the housing ladder away, which takes half of the second rung away, which takes part of the third rung away, and so on. It is very dangerous for everybody.” - @PhilSpencerTV https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8
Here is @CapEconUK analysis of Land Registry data. Sales of flats made up just 11% of total transactions in September, compared to the usual 16% to 20%. The economic reason to #EndOurCladdingScandal https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sales-of-flats-halve-as-cladding-crisis-threatens-housing-market-35wrwpbk8
