Revealing the monthly estimated figures for both residential and non-residential property transactions, HMRC property statistics for March 2017 have recently been released.
Showing data for the UK and its constituent countries, the publication is based on data from both the HMRC’s Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and the Scottish Administration’s Land and Buildings Transactions Tax (LBTT) databases.
For March 2017, the provisional seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count was 102,810 residential and 10,390 non-residential transactions.
Residential Transactions
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimate for the number of residential transactions grew between February 2017 and March 2017 by 0.5%. The seasonally adjusted figure is 40.9% lower than the level recorded in the same month last year.
Where non-adjusted transaction levels are concerned, the number recorded for March 2017 was around 20.9% higher than February 2017. Due to the large peak in March 2016 – largely associated with the increase in stamp duty on second homes – the relevance of a direct comparison is put into doubt. However, the proportion of yearly transactions which occurred during March (9%) is in line with the figures recorded before 2015-16.
Non-residential Transactions
For non-residential property transactions, the seasonally adjusted estimate fell between February 2017 and March 2017 by 3.9%. In comparison to the corresponding month last year, March’s figure is 3.6% higher.
As can be generally anticipated with the seasonal nature of purchases, non-adjusted transactions have observed peaks and falls on a monthly basis.
