HMRC: residential transactions drop 4.4% in July

However the provisional seasonally adjusted UK residential property transaction count for July was 100,720 - 0.2% higher compared with the same month last year.

For July 2015 the number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 2.4% higher compared with June 2015. The number of non-adjusted residential transactions was also 8% higher than in July 2014.

Peter Rollings, CEO of Marsh & Parsons, said:

“There’s certainly been a shift-change of late, with property sales in June and July stepping up to the mark of last summer, after falling short on an annual basis for seven successive months. In July, sales may have slipped back slightly month-on-month, but we need to remember that the market was working overtime in June to regain ground lost before the election.
 
“Ever since the stamp duty system switch-over, property taxation has become more of a sticking point in London, and here buyer demand has slowed somewhat at the top-end. It will take a while for these changes to fully bed in, and in the meantime house price rises and property sales in the capital may be outshone by other UK regions for the months to come. But that’s not to say they’ve fallen out of line – and with an average 12 buyers chasing every available property on the market, the strength of the demand for homes in London will continue to push growth up a gear.”   

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, commented:

“Election uncertainty is falling away, and the stream of buyers who held back from a purchase in the run up to May are spilling over into the summer. Lending levels are being bolstered by a strong remortgage sector, as buyers seek out the cheaper fixed rate deals before they start to disappear. This is set against a wider backdrop of rising wages, healthy house price growth and low inflation. These three variables have all contributed to strong forwards momentum, particularly among home movers and remortgagors.
 
“However, there may be less encouraging news ahead. More recently, lending to borrowers with smaller deposits has started falling away, To keep the bottom of the market engaged, a clear decision on the base rate would be useful in reassuring buyers that a rate rise will be slow and steady.”