The recent release of the latest Residential Transactions report from HMRC contains details of the total number of completed property sales in June, showing the total number of homes sold in the UK was 63,250, a 31.7 per cent increase on the figures from May.
However, according to the Daily Express, last months figures are down by 35.9 per cent in June 2019, when completed sales reached 98,670.
It has been noted that the figures for June show that the market was recovering before the introduction of the Stamp Duty Holiday, which was announced on 8 July. Scotland and Wales were still encoring lockdown measures in June, meaning the sales number were from England alone.
Experts are predicting that the figures for July will be even higher, but we will have to wait for the data to be released late in August.
It is unlikely that the stamp duty reduction will not affect sales figures yet, as the average timescale to sell a property from the moment an offer is accepted, is approximately 12 weeks, and longer if the purchase involves a chain. This means it will be likely October when the September sales figures are released.
The resurgent trend is very welcome news for the industry, but the market still has a long journey to make, and with unemployment due to the pandemic grows, these figures could change.
There is also a lack of mortgage lenders offering low deposit products, which is creating a massive hurdle for first-time buyers to get over, although lenders are slowly re-introducing these mortgages.
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