Effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on home buying in the UK in 2021

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the lockdowns during this period had an impact on the attitudes of prospective home buyers in the United Kingdom (UK) in different ways. On one hand, there was a large percentage of prospective home buyers of 63 percent that said COVID-19 motivated them to buy homes between March 2020 and March 2021.

However, concerns of financial security and the home buying process being harder were also registered at high rates. 71 percent of prospective home buyers were worried about their financial security, 68 percent reported that lockdowns made it harder to buy homes. This shows that while the motivation and interest in buying homes was large, but the conditions of lockdown and the financial impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic were a big barrier towards making purchases.