2020 and 2021 were extraordinary years, as is 2022 to a smaller extent in the UK. The COVID19 outbreak caused many problems for retail and the economy as a whole and the government had to juggle trying to keep businesses going while keeping everyone locked down at home and safe so that the virus couldn’t spread. There was a huge increase in people moving home looking for cardboard boxes London during 2020 and 2021 compared with 2022 so far. There are many reasons why this is the case, all relating to COVID and the government measures that were taken which had knock on effects that weren’t predicted. 2022 has gone back to a much more normal year in the UK although the rest of the world hasn’t quite caught up yet.
So what caused so many people to move house during 2020 and 2021?
- One of the measures that the government took to keep the economy going and to keep the housing market going was to remove stamp duty for one year. Stamp duty is payable on all house purchases and is a government tax of 5%, which is a huge amount of money, so when they announced a stamp duty holiday, this was a huge encouragement for people to move house using cardboard boxes for moving.
- As people were locked down in their homes for most of the year, and this carried on several times after the first lockdown too as new variants of the virus spread again and again, people began to value their own homes a lot more as they were spending much more time there than they usually would. As times were so uncertain, it was hard to imagine life getting back to normal at all, so people began to spend a lot more money on their own homes. This also lead to more people wanting bigger and better homes, and therefore moving house.
- Interest rates were as low as they have ever been, which meant that mortgage rates were also extremely low. This encouraged people to spend a lot more on a house, because they could better afford it. This also helped to increase the number of people who were moving house.
- All of this increased moving meant that house prices were driven up because there were so many buyers for each house sale. This meant that houses were selling for much more than they were worth and the banks often refused to give mortgages for the amount that people were offering.
- As more people began to work from home during lockdowns, as the government recommended that people shouldn’t go into the office or workplace unless they absolutely had to, this was another reason why so many people were spending more time at home. This meant that many people wanted to upsize their homes to include an office room and it also meant that all the people who were working in London and could not afford to buy a house before could now move further away in the country to buy a house that they could afford and simply work from there looking for moving boxes near me.
So what has changed during 2022?
- There are certainly a lot less people moving in 2022 but there is still a large number of movers in general.
- The stamp duty holiday ended meaning that the usual tax on house purchases was back up and running, which automatically puts people off moving.
- There have been no more lockdowns as the virus has become less threatening due to vaccination being so widespread in the UK, meaning that people were beginning to live their lives normally and get outside again.
- House prices have steadily grown but not as much as they did the year before. This makes it less attractive to sell your home now than it was before. Removal boxes London are still in high demand however.
- Working from home has continued to be the case for most businesses and this will continue to encourage people to value their homes more and more.
- Banks are becoming less likely to lend money to buyers because of the looming recession. This means that even though house prices are at an all time high, finding the money to actually buy a house is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for first time buyers. It will certainly soon be the norm to rent houses as opposed to buying.
