22
Feb
HOME SALES HIGHEST IN JANUARY SINCE 2008
Home sales recorded their typical new year dip, but transactions
in the first month of the year were higher than any January since
2008, figures show.
There were 64,000 UK property sales during the month, down from
86,000 in December, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
This total was higher than the 52,000 sales seen in January
2011.
The housing market tends to go through a lull at the start of
the year before activity picks up in the spring.
There have been some suggestions from those in the industry that
the imminent end to the stamp duty concession has pushed up
interest among first-time buyers at the start of the year.
The 1% stamp duty rate for first-time buyers, on properties
worth between £125,000 and £250,000, is being
reintroduced on 24 March.
On Monday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that gross
mortgage lending in January was up 10% on the same month a year
earlier, to £10.5bn.
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Property transactions
Jan 2006: 100,000
Jan 2007: 115,000
Jan 2008: 79,000
Jan 2009: 41,000
Jan 2010: 50,000
Jan 2011: 52,000
Jan 2012: 64,000
Source HMRC
No boom
Even if first-time buyer numbers had picked up slightly, many were
still finding it hard to get a mortgage, or were holding off making
such a financial commitment given the uncertain state of the
economy.
Sales remained well below the 115,000 transactions recorded in
January 2007, at the height of the property boom.
There were only 869,000 homes sold in the UK last year.
This was similar to 2009 and 2010, but half the levels seen in
the run up to the banking crisis.