UK Property Transactions Up by 4.9% in January
By |Published On: 22nd February 2017|

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UK Property Transactions Up by 4.9% in January

By |Published On: 22nd February 2017|

This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.

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

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?

About the Author: Em Morley (she/they)

Em is the Content Marketing Manager for Just Landlords, with over five years of experience writing for insurance and property websites. Together with the knowledge and expertise of the Just Landlords underwriting team, Em aims to provide those in the property industry with helpful resources. When she’s not at her computer researching and writing property and insurance guides, you’ll find her exploring the British countryside, searching for geocaches.

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