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Latest HMRC property transactions data

ended 28. July 2023

At 09:30 this morning, HMRC is publishing the latest residential and commercial property transactions data. It gets widely picked up in the media so a few quick Qs. Just answer the ones relevant to you.

  • In the past few months, how active has the residential property market been in completed transaction terms and what are you expecting for the rest of the year (and why)?
  • In the past few months, how active has the commercial property market been in completed transaction terms and what are you expecting for the rest of the year (and why)?
  • What are the main factors influencing residential and/or commercial property transactions at present? Are transactions taking longer, and are more falling through?

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Residential property transactions have certainly decreased over recent months, with the market conditions of rising mortgage rates and everyone holding their breath waiting for the needed price correction. Only those that need to buy or move are currently doing so, those that want to are either unable to achieve what they want or are biding their time.

On the commercial side, we have seen plenty of enquiries, but lender appetite seems low, with many lenders raising the minimum borrowing amount and further restricting criteria. So completed transactions appear to be reduced in this sector also.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
There is probably more life on Mars than there is in the UK housing market at the moment. But, if the interest rates have almost hit their highest point, things could start to improve. This week, some lenders have started to lower their mortgage rates marginally due to favourable market conditions. So, even if the base interest rate goes up next week if the expectation is that interest rates won't go much higher, we could start to see an increase in activity if the cost of borrowing improves.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
In the last two months I've written 13 mortgages for people, of those six have been people buying a new property and all have been residential applications. Whilst I have done four buy-to-let applications these have all been landlords remortgaging property they already own, I've not even had an inquiry around a brand new purchase from any landlords. The main influencing factor is affordability, or rather perception of affordability, with many people thinking that the mortgage they want or need is going to be far more expensive than it actually ends up being in many cases.