Demand for new homes is strong, but the banking questions remain

NEW HOMES special report: Sales of new houses have remained strong despite issues around access to banking finance

Consumer confidence remains relatively high for the housing market, though buyers are facing issues around access to finance.

The picture on market trends has changed little over the last number of months, with demand continuing apace and supply not keeping up with the pace of demand. Prices haven’t been exactly leaping upwards but most agents are reporting modest increases in some areas in a market where building costs seem to have stabilised for the moment at least.

Earlier in the summer, there were fears around the extent to which banking practices might have a dampening influence on supplying customers with credit; some lending institutions had not been taking into account certain governmental emergency Covid-related payments to applicants’ income and this was against the background of repayment breaks running out after an extended period.