Question: Use the demand-and-supply model to explain and discuss the points about the housing market described in the ex

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Question: Use the demand-and-supply model to explain and discuss the points about the housing market described in the ex

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Question: Use the demand-and-supply model toexplain and discuss the points about the housing market describedin the extract.
Extract: UK enjoys property sales boom amidCovid-19 pandemic Hard-to-sell homes are being snapped up by thehundred as Britain’s booming property market maintains a year-longbreakneck sales record. In areas of high demand, even the mostknocked-about and idiosyncratic houses are spending just days onthe market once buyers, desperate to grab something, see thatpredictions of a house price crash are proving off the mark. “Homesthat look like the last turkey in the Christmas shop window areflying off the shelves at the moment,” said property agent HenryPryor … Andrew Wishart, property economist at consultants CapitalEconomics, said: “With the amount of secondhand stock on the marketcurrently extremely limited, house prices could continue tosurprise on the upside.” There is always the possibility thatplaces like Cornwall and towns along the south coast are in abubble and prices are about to burst, said Pryor, “but the banksand local agents seem convinced that the momentum will keep priceson the up for a long time yet”. Mortgage lender Nationwide said itsmeasure of annual house price increases chalked up itssecond-biggest monthly rise in 15 years in August, putting to bedfears that the end of the government’s stamp duty tax break, whichprompted a fall in the number of homes changing hands during July,would bring the market to a juddering halt. Prices were up 11% on ayear ago, said Nationwide, and remain about 13% above pre-pandemiclevels, according to official data. Adding to the feverishactivity, which has seen some English agents adopt the well-wornScottish system of sealed bids amid claims of gazumping, new homebuilders have battled steel and timber shortages and an exodus ofstaff following Brexit to construct new homes. Many have seen theirprofits soar. Wishart said the end of the furlough scheme on 30September, which is expected to push unemployment higher, posedonly a small risk to rising prices. In May 2020, it was a verydifferent story. The first lockdown meant buyers could no longerview properties except online, sellers took their homes off themarket and sales collapsed. Two months later Rishi Sunak respondedto calls for government support by extending the help-to-buy schemefor first-time buyers and cutting stamp duty on homes worth lessthan £500,000. Figures for August 2020 revealed a spectacularturnaround. Mortgage approvals jumped from 66,300 in July to84,700, according to Bank of England figures, their highest levelsince October 2007. Recent analysis of the government’s actions bythe Resolution Foundation thinktank argued that the £4bn stamp dutysubsidy was wasted on sparking a market to life that had alreadybegun to recover and was always going to enjoy stellar growth. Itsaid ultra low interest rates, the demand for more spaciousproperties during the pandemic and the pent up savings of thosekept in work by the furlough scheme was enough to spur buyingactivity without extra incentives from the Treasury
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