Nick Leeming, Chairman of Jackson-Stops, comments on the latest HMRC property transactions statistics:
“Despite the month of December being a traditionally quieter period of time in the housing market, the last month of 2020 saw significant activity, with transactions up by almost a third year on year and by more than 13% month on month. Indeed, our own business data supports this, showing that completions across our national network rose 71% in November compared to the three months prior.
“While the Government’s stamp duty holiday has offered a strong incentive for buyers to transact in the middle and lower ends of the market, it is not the only force driving the surge in transactions seen in Q4 2020. Our network has seen an influx of buyers looking to move due to a change of circumstance or lifestyle as a result of the pandemic, as well as foreign investors looking to get deals over the line ahead of the foreign buyer tax coming into play from April 2021.
“The current SDLT holiday comes to an end during what is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for moving home; we therefore expect little impact to transaction levels immediately after March. It is however evident that many movers currently in the process of a sale are being affected by the lockdown’s knock-on impact to legal, lending and surveying services. The Government must therefore consider how best to ease the market out of the stamp duty holiday to avoid sales falling through due to these transactional delays.”
- The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in December 2020 is 129,400, 31.5% higher than December 2019 and 13.1% higher than November 2020
- The provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK non-residential transactions in December 2020 is 10,470, 4.5% higher than December 2019 and 14.5% higher than November 2020
