‘Reality check’ for homes market as sales plummet
Home sales plunged by a quarter in April compared with the same month a year earlier, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures.
Across the UK, 82,120 transactions were estimated to have taken place in April, marking a 25 per cent drop compared with April 2022.
Residential property sales were also eight per cent lower in April 2023 than in the previous month.
HMRC's report said the drop in sales between March and April 'appears particularly large'.
It said: 'The number of transactions in March was high due to a combination of factors including a larger number of working days relative to April and the final month for purchases to be completed under the Government's Help To Buy equity loan scheme.'
Mike Scott, chief analyst at estate agency Yopa, said: 'This disappointing number, combined with the recent equally disappointing inflation figures and the resulting increases in market expectations for interest rates, mean that the housing market slowdown is likely to be longer and deeper than we originally anticipated.'
Nicky Stevenson, managing director at estate agent group Fine & Country, said: 'A slowdown in the property market last autumn as a result of the mini-Budget has fed into April's sales figures.
'Due to the time it takes to complete on a property, many of these sales will have been agreed just as mortgage rates spiked, resulting in some transactions stalling due to affordability issues.'
On Tuesday, Moneyfactscompare.co.uk said several mortgage providers had withdrawn selected fixed mortgage products in recent days and some had pulled their whole fixed-rate range.
Moneyfactscompare. co.uk suggested the volatility is down to the concerns surrounding future interest rate hikes and lenders are reassessing their propositions.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures recently showed that inflation slowed to 8.7 per cent in April, although the fall had been expected to be far greater, with experts pencilling in a drop to 8.2 per cent in April.
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: 'Transaction numbers are coming under pressure in the face of higher interest rates and the cost-of-living uncertainty.’