Our Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Stockwell, comments on HMRC property transactions data for October 2021

“A last gasp effort from buyers to get their house purchases over the line before the stamp duty holiday ended resulted in another big spike in transactions in September.

“With the incentive now withdrawn, this is likely to be the last unseasonal spike in transactions we see.

“The stamp duty reduction alone has not been responsible for whipping up the enormous demand we have seen since last summer, but it has encouraged transactions to bunch uncharacteristically into several big peaks.

“It will likely now equally cause a slump in sales in October, like the one witnessed in July when the most generous stamp duty savings were trimmed.

“Low supply and continued high demand, particularly driven by buyers searching for more space, will almost certainly keep prices high, but transactions look likely to settle back down to historic norms while stamp duty costs remain a major financial obstacle for many buyers.”