Cash buyers flood the market

In the first three months of this year a record 73% of buyers were chain free, according to research by Hamptons. Meanwhile 40% of homebuyers in the year to April have been cash buyers — an increase of 48% on 2020 — who have pumped £181bn into the property market in the past year, which is more than was spent by first-time buyers and home-movers together using mortgaged debt, according to Savills. “In a market that is particularly short on supply, where the ability to act quickly is crucial, cash buyers have a strong competitive advantage over those at the mercy of a mortgage market in a state of flux. Even so, the competition between cash buyers means this doesn’t guarantee getting to the front of the queue in many cases,” Savills noted.

The Times