Playing a waiting game? - Comment on the HMRC property transactions for September from Adam Oldfield at Phoebus Software

31 October 2023

Adam Oldfield, chief revenue officer at Phoebus Software says “The transactions completed in September have been in the pipeline for months. At the time these transactions started we were going through a period of constantly rising interest rates and inflation. Confidence was obviously low at that point and to be honest, we might have expected to see even lower numbers crossing the line. This is especially true when we hear about the number of chains that broke as mortgage offers were pulled earlier in the year.

“With the next MPC interest rate decision just around the corner and the Autumn Statement in a few weeks, there is still a lot that can happen to help, or even disrupt the housing market further. If the Chancellor does as he has been promising to ‘fix our broken housing market’ we may hear something more positive in his speech. However, any changes or help announced will take time to filter through, so we are unlikely to see much change in the next few months. Looking at the drop in the number of remortgage approvals last month, it appears borrowers are still not ready to start fixing their rates. It really is a waiting game at the moment and that will be affecting lender targets to lend.”