The Impact of COVID-19 on UK Property

COVID-19 IMPACT ON UK REAL ESTATE
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COVID-19 Impact on UK Real Estate
Introduction
COVID-19 has left an enormous scar on the modern society due to its toll on the society and the economy. It can be considered one of the most devastating pandemics in recent times. Since its emergence and rapid spread globally, COVID-19 has been extensively studied to determine the true extent of its consequences. However, the initial studies were concerned with pathophysiology and interventions. Today, thousands of studies conducted on the pandemic focus on a wide range of contexts. From an economic perspective, the impacts on and responses by markets and industries have dominated the literature. Different sectors, industries, and countries suffered differently due to the pandemic. Such differences can be attributed to the government policies and measures implemented by the public health sector. Even so, it can be observed that most industries were dealt a devastating blow.
The real estate industry suffered significantly, majorly due to government restrictions. A sharp shift in demand and supply was witnessed in many countries. The short-term effects differed from the long-term ones, considering that the market experienced some self-correction mechanisms. The focus of this literature review is to explore the effects of COVID-19 on the demand and supply in the UK real estate market. A brief overview of COVID-19 is presented, followed by an overview of the current studies on the subject. The effects will be categorized into three: residential, commercial, and office. The literature review will explore the immediate and long-term effects.
Overview of COVID-19
COVID-19 broke out in December 2019 as a form of pneumonia of unknown origin, first reported in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. Initially, it was perceived as just another pneumonia outbreak epidemiologically linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. However, samples tested indicated that the outbreak was a novel coronavirus related to SARS-CoV. Its global spread caused thousands of deaths, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic on March 12, 2020 (Ciotti et al., 2020). In a very short time, the world had paid a high toll in terms of economic repercussions, human lives lost, and an increase in the levels of poverty globally. COVID-19 was unique in many ways. First, it is considered a “once-in-a-century pathogen” since its fatality risks were more than 1%, which is higher than the average influenza (Padhan and Prabheesh, 2021). However, it is essential to note that the fatality rates differed across regions and changed with time. Some studies indicate that the rates ranged between 1.7% and 39% (Horita and Fukumoto, 2023). Second, COVID-19 could kill even the healthy and elderly individuals.
The unique characteristics of the pandemic made its spread almost unstoppable. The virus can survive on different surfaces for a long time. For example, it could survive on plastic for 72 hours, cardboard for 24 hours, stainless steel for 48 hours, and copper surfaces for 4...