Slump in number of UK house sales

Charity slam ‘rigged system’ of housebuilding

THE number of houses changing hands in Britain fell sharply last month, figures have revealed.

Just over 103,900 properties were sold in February, down 0.7 per cent from January and 1.9 per cent less than a year ago.

The data from HM Revenue and Customs came amid signs that a surge in house prices was over. The average home still jumped 6.2 per cent in value in the year to January, said the Office for National Statistics.

However, the ONS slashed estimates for house price growth in the previous two months.

They revised December’s increase from 7.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent, and November’s from 6.1per cent to 5.3 per cent. All three months were well below the average 7.4 per cent price rise over the whole of 2016.

Ishaan Malhi, founder of online mortgage broker Trussle, described the figures as “a wake- up call to the problems facing the housing market”.

Jeremy Leaf, a North London estate agent and former chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said the data “indicates a worrying trend of fewer transactions but prices still rising, underpinned by shortages of stock.

“At the coalface we see these numbers, as well as concerns about rising inflation, translating into more caution, longer transaction times and hard bargaining but an improving confidence about getting deals done.”

Housing charity Shelter said, despite the slowdown, property prices are out of control.

Graeme Brown, its interim chief executive, said: “Our housebuilding system is rigged to fail families while rewarding big developers and landowners with huge profits.

“The only way to fix the housing crisis is for the Government to change the rules of the game completely, by bringing down the astronomical cost of land.”