The Intermediary – May 2025 - Flipbook - Page 44
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Housing market:
The member
outlook
ALISTAIR NIMMO
is director of marketing at
the Family Building Society
help any family members financially
over the past six months.
Even so, some 65% are happy with
their current financial situation.
Housing supply
82% of people do not believe the Government will achieve its housing goals
O
ur latest six-monthly
survey of members’
financial wellbeing,
conducted in the
spring of 2025,
revealed some very
interesting results, as has been the
case in our previous surveys. More
than 2,600 Family Building Society
members responded to this survey,
and the main findings included some
eye-catching views reflecting a general
mood of pessimism for the UK and
global economies.
Indeed, it is probably the most
pessimistic our members have felt in
the five financial wellbeing surveys we
have carried out to date.
Global concerns
The threatened introduction by the
US of trade tariffs this spring only
added to the uncertainty facing
everyone, particularly the personal
finances of younger family relatives of
our members.
Some three-quarters of our
members expect the economy to
slow down over the next six months,
fuelled not only by trade tariffs, but
also worldwide political instability
42
The Intermediary | May 2025
and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Just over 90% see trade tariffs –
announced by Donald Trump in early
April, although somewhat fluid as
negotiations with trading partners
develop – as negative, with threequarters believing this will force the
Bank of England to cut interest rates.
The reduction of 0.25% in interest
rates announced on 8th May is an
indication, I believe, of the Bank of
England’s concern.
The recent trade deal announced
between the UK and the US may have
alleviated concerns, though, and it
will be interesting to see if our survey
in the Autumn confirms this.
Personal picture
Our survey also revealed that 40%
think their personal financial
situation will worsen, with nearly
a third expecting their pension and
investment incomes to be negatively
affected, and two-thirds seeing that as
a threat to their financial wellbeing.
Another 40% think their children
and grandchildren are feeling
pessimistic about their financial
wellbeing over the next six months,
although the majority have not had to
On the housing crisis and geing more
people into their own homes, more
than 82% of people who responded
to the survey did not believe the
Government will achieve its target of
building 1.5 million new homes during
the course of the current Parliament.
While reinstating a Help to Buy
scheme was advocated by 27% of
respondents, reforming the planning
system was seen as a greater priority,
with 41% in favour of reform.
In our members’ minds, the house
building target is just not achievable
through the current policy mix.
However, they make some valid
suggestions around what measures
the Government could take to help
provide additional homes – developing
brownfield sites and incentivising
landlords to repurpose existing
and empty commercial property
for residential use, for example.
Increasing the infrastructure levy to
support local communities is another.
It is also clear that they feel that
ending the Stamp Duty holiday and
the subsequent reinstatement of the
lower thresholds – which came into
force on 1st April – was a mistake.
It is interesting to note that most of
our members favour scrapping Stamp
Duty for older would-be downsizers,
for whom it is viewed as a major
disincentive to move. In turn, this
could free up more properties for
growing families. ●
