Property Review - October 2025
Thank you Howard Davis for writing this article. Howard is Managing Directory of Howard Independent East Agents.
Howard has some thoughts for property buyers and sellers this autumn.
When the time comes to move many of us look at the housing market from a broad, almost macro perspective - watching how the bigger economic picture trickles down to affect us personally.
We follow news about the economy, finance, and shifting social norms. We absorb style trends, opinion columns offering endless lists of dos and don’ts, and even follow glimpses into how celebrities choose to live. We listen to others with different aims and priorities from our own. Sometimes we are persuaded to wait.
Right now, however there are added complications - Christmas is looming and, more importantly, so is the autumn Budget. History suggests that governments treat housing like a game of whac-a-mole: hammering one issue only for another worryingly unanticipated and often larger problem to spring up. It is hardly surprising. Angela Rayner’s successor as housing minister is the fourteenth in just twenty years - only six more than the number of prime ministers in the same period. Hardly the foundation for a coherent, long-term strategy for housing nationwide.
Yes, the wheels are in motion to refresh planning laws, and the government has set an ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament. Worthy goals. But who in Westminster is prepared to confront the elephant in the room: the catastrophic, outdated conveyancing system in England and Wales? It wastes an estimated £1.5 billion a year - money drained from both the economy and individuals - while half a million transactions collapse annually. The financial waste is staggering, the mental toll appalling. Put a housing minister in an estate agent’s office for six months, with his or her livelihood on the line, and we might see some real reform.
And yet away from the politics the micro view is what really matters: space for family, proximity to schools and transport, the curve of a garden path, the design of a front door, or the way natural light moves through a room. These are the real things to consider when moving home.
The good news is that right now there is more choice in the market than we have seen for years. More choice means keener prices. If ever there was a time to find your forever home, it is now. So do not wait. As General Patton put it, “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”
