THE market has seen a substantial spike in activity either with direct sales or associated chains in the rush to beat the increased stamp duty deadline for either buy-to-lets or second home ownership.

The market may temporarily settle after that increased activity, however, because the additional stamp duty is a relatively low percentage of the overall purchase and a buy-to-let investment is a long term strategy, and not an overnight profit, we do not think this will have a long-term effect on the principle of buying a property as a secure investment and we expect the vast majority of investors to remain in the market.

Tax breaks will not be quite so advantageous in the coming years, so particularly for highly geared or highly borrowed investments we may see landlords selling a number of properties to reduce some borrowing, but again this is unlikely to substantially change the investment market.

The basic economic rules of supply, demand, rate of return and tax will undoubtedly have some effect, but we would not expect these to be fundamentally changing the scene, rather a gentle shift in the market.

This could be part of the Government’s long-term strategy to help first time buyers who are often contemplating and competing for the same properties.

With interest rates looking likely to stay low for some time we expect more first time buyers to get onto the property market which for long-term stability can only be seen as a good thing.

Overriding though, demand for property in the general Cotswolds area still considerably outstrips supply with many recent sales seeing more than one buyer.