Number of UK houses sold continues to fall

Fri, 21 Jul 2017

New government figures show that the number of housing transactions taking place has fallen for the third consecutive month.

In June, there were 96,910 house purchases across the UK, a fall of 3.3 per cent on May and the lowest figure since October 2016.

However, these figures, provided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), show a rise on an annual basis, with a 1 per cent rise when compared to June 2016.

Last summer's figures are distorted however, with the introduction of further stamp duty rates introduced in April 2016. It is believed that the government's decision to make this change had a grave impact on house sales, at least in the short term.

For the first time this year, the number of residential transactions dropped below 100,000 a month.

A number of property experts believe that the figure is a much more accurate representation of the housing market, compared to the more commonly used method of house prices.

"These figures are disappointing as we would have expected them to be much higher bearing in mind the turmoil in the market this time last year following the introduction of the stamp duty surcharge," said Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent.

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