The data is not seasonally adjusted, with the pandemic and its influences on the market having produced significant uncertainties around seasonal trends since around April 2020, the report said
Property transactions in the U.K. returned to pre-pandemic levels in January, with home-buying incentives in the rearview mirror, less favourable economic conditions and a drastic shortage of stock, according to data released Tuesday from the government.
There were an estimated 85,520 home sales logged last month across the country, a total that’s 12.6% lower than January 2021. The total was 22.2% lower than in December and on par with January 2020 when transaction numbers reached 83,840.
The data is not seasonally adjusted, with the coronavirus pandemic and its influences on the market having produced significant uncertainties around seasonal trends since around April 2020, the report said.
Following a year that defied expectations, month on month comparison data for transactions completed in January 2022 shows a market slightly subdued by the continuing imbalance of stock and high levels of demand, Nick Leeming, chairman of estate agency Jackson-Stops, said in a statement.
We are however starting to see more listings making their way onto the market however and expect that as the weather warms up and we enter the traditionally busier spring market, we’ll see an uplift in both stock levels and the resulting sales activity from March onwards, he said. Despite higher costs of living, the costs associated with borrowing still remain attractive and homeowners seeking their dream home aren’t to be deterred.
The number of homes changing hands in the U.K. recently peaked in June, which saw a whopping 198,240 properties transact as buyers completed property transactions before the stamp duty holiday deadline at the end of that month.
On June 30, the stamp duty holiday, which was introduced in July 2020, went from scrapping the transfer tax on the first £500,000 ($679,300) of a home sale to the first £250,000 ($339,981), and it revered to the standard £125,000 ($169,990) at the end of September when the incentive ended altogether.
