Housing transactions fell by 17 per cent in October 2023 compared to the same time last year, although commentators believe there are 'green shoots'.
HM Revenue and Customs's latest UK monthly property transactions commentary showed the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions reached 90,920 in October 2023.
This was 17 per cent lower than the number of transactions recorded in October 2022 and 2 per cent lower than September 2023.
A drop was also reported for the HMRC’s seasonally adjusted estimate, with the number of UK residential transactions in October 2023 amounting to 82,910.
This was 21 per cent lower than October 2022 and 3 per cent lower than September 2023.
Speaking on this, more2life managing director, Ben Waugh, said: “Another dip in property transactions is likely to cause some concern.”
However, Waugh added that the figures were a reflection of the ongoing cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty.
Looking ahead, he said there may be some “green shoots" for aspiring homeowners, with interest rates stabilising and inflation slowing.
A similar sentiment was shared by MT Finance managing director, Gareth Lewis, who commented: “Although transactions have dipped, volumes haven’t fallen off a cliff with people still buying and selling, which is positive.
“The numbers are what you would expect given the higher interest rate environment, which creates affordability issues, but borrowers are gradually getting used to this.
“The stabilisation of the interest rate environment will encourage more people into the market. Better mortgage products at sub-5 per cent are also helpful, while lenders need to think outside the box in order to support borrowers as best they can.”
HMRC also revealed transactions for financial years with the provisional estimates for 2023/2024 amounting to 600,120 for non-seasonally adjusted and 589,470 for seasonally adjusted.
Both of these represented a fall on the previous financial year which reported 750,840 non-seasonally adjusted transactions and 735,350 seasonally adjusted transactions.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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