Common sense must prevail - Comment on the HMRC property transactions from Richard Pike at Phoebus Software

23 August 2022

Richard Pike, chief sales and marketing officer at Phoebus Software, says “Looking at the non-seasonally adjusted figures in July it is no surprise that the number of transactions in July is higher than in July 2021, given that the SDLT holiday came to an end in June 2021. However, we may have expected to see the figures falling in comparison to June this year when interest rates are rising and inflation is raging. To discover that this was not the case and that figures are ‘broadly’ in line with previous transactions in July is heartening. It shows that there is still an appetite to move, buy and sell and that the effect of rising mortgage rates is not the deterrent we might have expected.

“Nonetheless, there are many factors that can still affect the housing market and, as reported last week by the ONS, with real wages shrinking when held up to inflation it could be that the appetite we have been seeing is curbed. Affordability will be a defining factor and although lenders have more freedom since the affordability regulations were relaxed, common sense must prevail.”