A look back at 2021 – what were the main things that happened in the property industry?

 

 

 

 

 

 We look back at the major property events in 2021 and how they might affect the market in 2022.

 2021 has been a year like no other in the property industry. 

The stamp duty holiday fuelled record high demand, while favourable lending conditions led to unprecedented levels of transactions working through the system.  

We’ve seen the launch of new housing initiatives, the delay of possible reforms, the continued growth of PropTech, ongoing issues with the leasehold and cladding scandal, and much more besides. 

As ever, the year will end with the portals receiving staggeringly high levels of traffic and visits as people use their downtime to search for their dream property. 

Of course, it’s impossible to condense everything that happened this year into a single blog. But here are some of the biggest things that happened in 2021. 

The extension and then end of the stamp duty holiday 

The first few months of 2021 were marked by pressure on the government from all quarters – including a petition which received over 150,000 signatures, triggering a debate among politicians – for an extension to the stamp duty holiday, which was originally due to end in March 2021. 

Eventually, the government relented and announced that the holiday would be extended until the end of September 2021 to avoid any dreaded “cliff-edge” scenarios. The holiday was tapered off and came to a total close from October 1 2021, with the ending already largely baked in and not causing a drastic fall in transactions as some had feared. 

The success of the stamp duty holiday has been much-debated, but its impact on the property market for much of 2021 was undeniable, driving high levels of demand among all types of buyers, with buy-to-let investors just as able to take advantage as downsizers and second steppers. 

There have been calls for stamp duty to be scrapped, or wrapped up with other property taxes in a new super-tax, but the money it brings to the Treasury makes this unlikely. 

The huge growth of PropTech 

Property got more tech-led than ever in 2021, with the tech revolution continuing to be supercharged by the pandemic.  

Whether it be Right to Rent checks being carried out remotely, the greater use of instant reservations, the continued use of virtual viewings or a host of PropTech companies stepping in to make the lives of property professionals easier, the growth of the sector is undeniable. 

According to recent research, investment into the UK’s fast-growing PropTech sector reached record levels in 2021 – and has more than quadrupled since last year, as the sector matures. 

Analysis by PropTech-focused venture capital firm Pi Labs examined UK PropTech funding round data for 2021 and found that there had been £1.6 billion of investment into the sector so far this year, a huge 360% rise from the £347.79 million seen in 2020 (when PropTech came into its own during the lockdowns). 

The figure was also more than 15 times higher than the £105.68 million of UK PropTech investment achieved in 2016, evidencing its rapid growth. 

The use of tech in property was dealt a blow by the devastating Simplify IT hack that took place recently – the repercussions of which are still being felt – and also arguably by the struggles of the online/hybrid model of estate agency, most notably in the recent troubles of scandal-hit Purplebricks. 

But, overall, the trend is towards greater use of tech, automation, and digitalisation in property – to speed things up and make lives easier. And this is likely to accelerate further in 2022.