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Bumper September for UK home sales, as pandemic housing boom continues
Last month marked the busiest September for home sales since records of this data began in 2005, as the pandemic property boom continues to be hot.
Provisional non-seasonally adjusted figures from HM Revenue and Customs estimate 165,720 UK residential transactions.
That was 59.7% above August and 67.3% higher than September last year when the market was also performing well helped by a stamp duty holiday.
Lawrence Bowles at Savills, said: “The pandemic-induced race for space and the stamp duty holiday has triggered an “additional” 146,000 transactions since March 2020. As a result, annual transaction levels have risen above 1.5 million for the first time since February 2008.”
September was the last month a tax holiday on stamp duty rates was in place. Since the start of October the duty has been in place on all purchases above £125,000.
An initial full stamp duty holiday started in July 2020 allowing the first £500,000 spent on a property to be tax free. That break was scaled back from July this year.
Peter Beaumont, chief executive of The Mortgage Lender, said: “With demand outstripping supply, fierce competition is keeping the fire burning in the housing market. Buyers are scrabbling to make the most of record-low mortgage rates, seizing a window of opportunity before they may disappear off the market. What’s more, with hybrid working establishing itself as a fixture of post-pandemic working life, the race for space rolls on.”
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