An Estate Agent Said the COVID Pandemic Has Been a 'Blessing in Disguise'

A UK-based estate agent has been widely condemned for circulating a leaflet asking whether coronavirus had been a “blessing in disguise” because of rising house prices.

JP & Brimelow received backlash after releasing the leaflet which details how house prices in suburban areas of Manchester had risen by 8.4 percent year-on-year.

“Has COVID been a blessing in disguise for Chorlton and Old Trafford?” the leaflet says. “What a year it’s been for everyone in Chorlton and Old Trafford. So much uncertainty, so much worry about jobs and of course concern over health.”

“However, the property market has actually fared very well this year,” it continues. “When you account for how unstable this year has been in so many senses, it’s all the more remarkable how the property market has performed.” The slogan atop of the leaflet reads: “Successful People… JP & Brimelow”.

In the UK, the coronavirus pandemic has killed almost 100,000 people, with over two million people dying worldwide. Homelessness has also risen over the last year, with 70,000 households made homeless during the pandemic. JP & Brimelow’s leaflet received backlash across social media. “This is callous and insensitive,” John Hacking, a councillor for Chorlton, tweeted. 

While little support has been provided for renters during the pandemic, numerous policies were created to provide relief for homeowners and those looking to buy a property. As a result of policies such as mortgage holidays and a stamp duty reduction, house prices have inflated across the country. 

“To say that COVID has been a 'blessing in disguise' when so many have lost their lives or been forced onto the streets as a result of coronavirus is sickening and really highlights the moral bankruptcy of the industry as a whole,” a spokesperson for Acorn Housing Union, an organisation that campaigns for renters rights across England, said. “To see landlords and estate agents celebrating a COVID induced boom in house prices in Manchester – a city with such a massive homelessness crisis  – while renters are being offered little protection beyond an eviction ban full of holes is infuriating and really demonstrates the urgency of our movement.”

JP & Brimelow later apologised for what it called the “clumsy” wording of the leaflet. “We had wanted to share a bit of positivity during a time when many people are suffering,” it said, “but the way we did it was clumsy and ill thought out.”

“There is absolutely no positive side to 100,000 deaths,” another local councillor, Joanna Midgley, wrote in response to the apology.

VICE World News reached out to JP & Brimelow for further comment, but it had not responded by time of publication.