Property transactions in the UK dipped in October but remain above pre-pandemic levels.
According to data from HMRC based on Stamp Duty returns, the non-seasonally adjusted estimate of home sales in October 2022 in the UK is 110,850, 29% up on the same month last year but 3% lower than in September 2022.
The figure is up 38% annually on a seasonally adjusted basis and rose 2% over the month to 108,480.
HMRC’s data highlights annual comparisons are skewed by last year’s Stamp Duty holiday and says it would be too early for higher mortgage rates to be reflected in its figures.
The 110,850 figure is also lower than the 121,740 reported in October 2020, which was during the Stamp Duty holiday, but is higher than the 107,100 sales recorded by HMRC for the same month in 2019.
However, despite the national figure, it’s not all doom and gloom everywhere.
Sheldon Bosley Knight’s associate director, Andrew James said: “Despite all the economic uncertainty, our teams have not seen a dip in buyer demand. Sellers are also still keen to put their properties on the market which is equally encouraging.
“The recent increase in mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis, are concerns and will doubtless have some impact on market activity in the next few months, not least resulting in potentially causing a shortage of new properties coming to the market early next year.
“However, in the last week we have seen some fixed rate mortgage deals fall below 6% which should give buyers and sellers some degree of comfort.”