What would have happened to the housing market if...

[Anuthanamechange]

1. If furlough wasn’t an option
2. If the mortgage guarantee scheme didn’t exist
3. If there wasn’t a stamp duty holiday (or if they didn’t extend it past the first intervention)

Can’t remember if there have been other interventions, but if everything had been left ‘as was’, where would we be now?

I think there would have been a house price crash on a large scale.

Not sure if one will come about as it so uncertain, but personally feel the rate at which house prices are rising is unsustainable.

Like pp have said, there was no need to lose the taxpayer billions in lost stamp duty tax revenue. Demand was high regardless. So the stamp duty holiday unnecessarily lost the taxpayer billions... at a time of spiralling costs of housing the homeless. Lose lose for the taxpayer (and the homeless).

@Anuthanamechange- I agree that there would have been a house price fall if none of those things had been put in place.

A lack of furlough scheme (plus business rates holidays, mortgage holidays, etc ) would have had a devastating effect on many people, not just employees but business owners too.

The stamp duty holiday undoubtedly had an effect in helping prices to shoot up. I remember seeing threads on here before it was introduced about buyers negotiating down prices that had previously been agreed. They suddenly shot up when it was introduced and again when it was extended. It wasn't the only factor, of course, but it certainly was a significant one. I would be interested to see these facts you have been reading which state something different @Ozanj as they clearly differ from the facts I have been reading.

Ditto the mortgage guarantee scheme and 'help to buy' (otherwise known as 'help sellers and developers make an even bigger profit')

Add to this the other massive factors or CB dropping the rates to zero and introducing a massive amount of QE and we have a housing boom (asset price inflation) during a recession.