IN the last three months there have been encouraging signs of improvement in the UK housing market, says estate agent Savills.
Though heavily influenced by the more affluent boroughs of London, at a national level annual house price movements have moved into marginally positive territory. Similarly, the housing RICS survey has shown a marked increase in new buyer enquiries against the context of a slowly improving economic backdrop and government measures targeted at the lower tiers of the market.
The prime markets are unlikely to benefit from such government assistance.
Indeed, additional stamp duty costs would indicate the opposite.
Yet since the wider housing market bottomed out in 2009, the prime markets of London and its commuter zone have outperformed their mainstream counterparts, both in terms of transaction levels and price movements.