Pretty encouraging, given the economic outlook - Comment on the HMRC Property Transactions for April from Richard Pike at Phoebus Software

24 May 2022

Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, says “The non-seasonally adjusted figures today show that the market is now broadly back in line with the number of transactions pre-pandemic. After the heightened activity created by the stamp duty holiday this is pretty encouraging given the economic outlook. However, most of these completed transactions have been in the pipeline for months and we are yet to see the effect that inflation, and the increasing cost of living, will have on people’s appetite to move. That, together with another potential interest rate rise in a matter of weeks, and we could be looking at a very different picture in another three months.

“Nonetheless, even if house purchase numbers do suffer, lenders will no doubt be seeing an increase in borrowers looking to remortgage and fix their rates. It also looks increasingly like those fixed terms will be for more than the traditional two or five-years.”