Almost 54% of Southampton voters voted to leave

Southampton voters voted inline with the rest of the UK and helped the Brexit vote get over the line in Thursdays referendum, so what now..

Well in the immediate aftermath of the decision stock markets crashed and the pound slumped, Cameron resigned and Corbyn is now under massive pressure and we have been left in a huge vacuum both politically and economically. There will be no new Prime Minister until the Autumn and hence the Article 50 will not be invoked so this uncertainty will remain for some time and may well push through for a number of years while the UK finds its feet outside Europe.

So how is the property market going to perform over the next few months... Well unfortunately a major element of the success of any property market is confidence and at the moment the high level of uncertainty has eroded a significant level of that confidence, no one really knows how things will pan out and until we get clarity confidence will remain low. If you are considering selling your property it would be prudent to hold fire for a few months to hopefully let confidence come back. If your property is currently on the market it may well sit there for a number of months and you may want to consider taking it off the market. If you have to sell you may need to consider a price reduction to get it away and therein may lie the problem!

The market was very strong up until the end of March when the new stamp duty laws came into place. Since then the Southampton market has been sticky, some stock is on the market for 5 or 6 months and may well be compromised in a number of ways, it didn't sell prior to March and definitely wont sell now unless we see a price reduction. My fear is that this stock may be discounted to shift it and people who have to sell now will also have to discount to get it away and hence prices may fall, by how much ... maybe 10 or 15% over the next 12 months! Clearly there will be good opportunities to buy stock but choose carefully and be wary of grabbing the "falling knife"!

As I continually say Buy 2 Let is a long term investment - 10 to 15 years, it is not a get rich quick scheme. The Southampton property market has recovered well since the financial crises in 2008 when the market fell by 20%, we are now about 12% above the 2007 peak so our market is robust, has recovered well and is well placed to deal with the challenges ahead. Tenant demand is strong and will continue to be despite the leave vote. Since 2007 the UK has needed 250,000 new homes every year and we have only been building 120,000 hence the level of pent up demand and the housing crises, whether we are in or out of Europe this was never going to change.

So my advice is to keep your head, don't panic and wait for the level of uncertainty to reduce and plans to be put in place which should help build confidence back into our housing market and remember investing in the buy 2 let market is a long term investment. Stay positive and find the opportunities.