This week, the HMRC have released their UK Property Transactions Statistics for August 2014.
Data Summary
Provisional, seasonally adjusted UK property transaction count was 99,930 residential and 9,090 non-residential.
Residential Transactions
- Seasonally adjusted estimate of residential property transactions decreased by 1.7% between July 2014 and August 2014.
- 8.4% increase in seasonally adjusted transactions compared to same period last year.
- Since the beginning of 2013, there has been a general month-on-month increase in seasonally adjusted data until February 2014 where there was a gradual decrease, followed by steady figures.
- July and August 2014 have seen peaks in non-seasonally adjusted data. However these figures are provisional and subject to revision.
Non-residential Transactions
- Seasonally adjusted estimate of non-residential property transactions decreased by 0.1% between July 2014 and August 2014.
- 2.3% increase in seasonally adjusted transactions compared to same period last year.
- Between August 2013 and December 2013, there was a steady increase in non-seasonally adjusted transactions, followed by decreases in January and February. There was then a significant increase in transactions in March 2014, followed by further decreases until a rise in May, then a further decrease in August 2014.
- Seasonally adjusted figures have seen a decrease since June 2014. However the latest figures are provisional and subject to revision.
These latest figures are being viewed as encouraging by property experts. Peter Rollings, CEO of award-winning estate agent Marsh & Parsons, comments, After a stirring start to the year, the UK property market has calmed, and trading conditions are beginning to look reassuringly more familiar again. Steep house price growth during the first three months has softened to a steadier and more sustainable upward slant, as demand is finally being matched by an encouraging amount of new housing stock on the market.
The volume of house sales dipped in the month to August 2014, but if we look at the figures through a longer-term lens, there has still been a healthy step forward compared to the same point last year.
Though the property market has seen a dip following the summer season, Rollings predicts a promising outlook for autumn.
The market may have wound down for summer as it recovered from the adjustment of tighter lending regulation coming into force, but there’s still plenty of gas left in the tank. We expect sales to move up a gear in the autumn, as calmer competition for available homes boosts the confidence of home buyers and pedals the wheels of activity.
