UK property transactions rose by 4.9% on a monthly basis in January this year, although these figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are provisional and subject to change.
UK Property Transactions Up by 4.9% in January
The provisional seasonally adjusted number of UK property transactions for January was 104,820 residential and 11,570 non-residential sales.
This estimate is up by 4.9% on December 2016’s figure, and 0.3% on an annual basis.
For January, the number of non-adjusted residential transactions was around 26% lower than in December, while it was down by just 2% on January 2016.
Surge in UK property transactions
Looking at historical data, HMRC claims that the large spike in UK property transactions in March 2016, followed by a substantial reduction in April, is likely to have been caused by the introduction of higher Stamp Duty on additional homes and buy-to-let properties in April 2016.
However, while April and May 2016 had lower levels of property sales than the same months in 2015, it must be noted that the total for the first quarter (Q1) to Q2 is still significantly higher than the corresponding period in the previous year.
The 3% Stamp Duty surcharge was announced in the Autumn Statement 2015 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in the Scottish Government’s draft 2016-17 budget for Scotland.
Non-tax factors may have played a role as well, believes HMRC, for example, the Bank of England’s plans to curb buy-to-let mortgages causing a rush to purchase and the EU referendum affecting sales in recent months.
The residential UK property transactions count includes properties paying the main and additional rates of Stamp Duty.
March 2016 recorded the highest number of UK property transactions of the last ten years, the HMRC report also confirms.
Have you made any property purchases over the past month or so? And do you have plans for any in the near future?