Turmoil hits home sales

PROPERTY sales slumped last month as nervous buyers were put off by turmoil at Westminster.

A total of 84,490 homes changed hands in June, according to HM Revenue and Customs, down 16.5pc on a year earlier.

In a further sign the economy is faltering, activity in British factories also fell.

Experts warn that the housing market has suffered as uncertainty over Brexit and the country’s next prime minister prompted potential buyers to sit on their hands.

The slump suggests June will be another subdued month for house prices, after separate data last week from the Land Registry revealed a poor showing in May.

That was a particularly bad month in London where values were 4.4pc lower than a year earlier – the steepest slide since a decade ago when the country was mired in the depths of the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Confederation Of British Industry suggests that manufacturing activity dropped in the three months to July.

There was an artificial boost to factory output earlier in the year, when firms stockpiled extra goods so they could continue trading through any disruption around the original Brexit deadline in March.

But with Brexit pushed back to October 31, companies have not been ordering as many goods.

Optimism about the future fell at its fastest pace since July 2016, the month after the European Union referendum, and the CBI says fewer firms said they are planning to invest.