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Number of property transactions - July

ended 23. August 2021

Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 09:30, the Office for National Statistics is publishing data showing the number of property transactions above £40,000 in July. The data should be fairly interesting as June went ballistic due to the stamp duty holiday. All we want to know is this:

  • Do you expect the number of completed property transactions to have dropped off in July and August to date? If so, why?
  • Do you expect transaction volumes to drop off during the rest of the year? If so, why?

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3 responses from the Newspage community

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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
"The number of property transactions completed during July will be as hot as ever, especially for those who may have missed the first stamp duty deadline; July and August are always traditionally slower months due to holidays, and parents focus shifting to keeping their children entertained. "I cannot see transaction volumes dropping as demand is still outstripping supply, and there are still plenty of eager beavers on the hunt for a new home before Christmas but the frenzy has hopefully passed."
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
"Don't read too much into a slower July and August. Any experienced estate agent will tell you that July and August are traditionally quiet months where you pause for breath in preparation for a hectic run in to Christmas. This year seems to be no different. "The early signs are that September is gearing up to be another monstrously busy month with buyers poised and waiting for the traditional influx of listings after the Summer holidays. "It's going to be busy and prospective buyers who haven't already seen their broker and got their ducks in a row before offering risk missing out to those that have. The bottleneck, as ever, is that portions of the conveyancing industry aren't up to coping with the levels of work required in a timely manner so expect transactions to take longer on average than the snail-like pace they already do. The UK is the polar opposite of the rest of the world, where they actually embrace technology and don't wait weeks on end for bits of paper to arrive by post."
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
"I think we'll inevitably see a drop over the next couple of months, but only because earlier in the year the market was breaking pretty much every record going, so we're going from record-breaking busy to 'just' manically busy. The rest of the year will likely see a further slowdown, as the second phase of the Stamp Duty holiday ends and people start to gear up for Christmas. "I find that once shops' Christmas lights go up then the property market slows. Given the hard time many retailers have had over the past 18 months, I can see them looking to extend the festive period as much as they can, so we're likely to see an earlier start to Christmas shopping this year than normal. This could impact activity levels sooner than usual."