Property transactions dropped by around 5% in September, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Property Transactions Drop by 5% in September
The data gives an indication to the number of buyers who may have started their purchases over the EU referendum period – June or early July – based on the fact that transactions typically take between 12-14 weeks.
HMRC’s latest UK Property Transactions report shows that there were 103,400 residential deals in September, down on 109,640 in the previous month.
This represents a 5.7% monthly decline and 5.3% annual decrease from September last year, when 109,160 property transactions were recorded.
The figures appear more drastic on a seasonally adjusted basis, when they’re down by 4.3% on the month and 11.3% annually to 93,130.
The Head of Lending at the Mortgage Advice Bureau, Brian Murphy, comments on the findings: “Neither of these figures are either surprising nor cause for concern.
“August completions reflect purchases which were started in May, which is typically a busy month as it’s the tail end of the spring market, rather than June, which generally sees the start of the summer holiday hiatus, and September 2015 was exceptionally busy due to pent-up demand following the general election.”
He explains: “This figure could be affected by the continuing lack of stock available, but it does somewhat demonstrate the ongoing demand for property, which therefore is likely to underpin the market for some time to come.
“Having said that, we will have to wait and see the data regarding the number of transactions completed this month and in November, thus reflecting those who started their transactions in August and September, to get a better barometer in terms of market confidence.”
Have you put property purchases on hold amid market uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum? This may be the reason that transactions are down on recent months.
But has confidence returned to the property market yet?