Some good news in the housing market

That the housing market is now reopening, in England at least, is good news, says John Stepek.

The housing market is open – just keep your distance © Getty

Moving house is a miserable process at the best of times. I can only imagine how stressful attempting such a move during the current coronavirus pandemic would be. So while there are plenty of worse positions to be in, I do feel sorry for the 450,000 people who are apparently either in a property-buying chain or waiting to rent a new home.

The good news for them this week is that the housing market is now reopening, in England at least (at the time of writing). As long as everyone sticks to social-distancing rules, then estate agents can open, surveyors can value properties and removal firms can shift furniture. So if you were in the middle of a transaction and the deal hasn’t already fallen apart amid the coronavirus chaos, you should hopefully be able to get into your new home at last. But what happens next?

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More
John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.