Figures from HMRC showed they were 8.1% higher in October than in the same month last year and over the month from September residential transactions soared by 9.8%.
Indeed, the number of transactions in October was at 105,630, according to the government’s seasonally-adjusted estimates.
Joshua Elash, director of property lender MT Finance, said the continued growth in volume of residential transactions was ‘breathtaking’.
“October’s data no longer merely reflects pent-up demand but points directly to the impact of the stamp duty concession,” he said.
“It looks and feels as though there is a rush to take advantage of this opportunity, which is driving continued growth in transactional volumes.
“The obvious concern is what happens to demand and transactional volumes if, and when, the stamp duty holiday ends. Without an extension, we risk seeing a violent drop in activity, leading to a fall in asset values.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Roberts, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, was concerned the buoyant numbers would simply add further pressure to the already overstretched property market.
“These high levels of demand are in many cases causing delays for buyers and sellers who, without proper support and guidance, could fail to complete in time,” he said.
Although there are concerns the rush to complete before the stamp duty holiday might add further to this pressure, estate agent, Jeremy Leaf, who is also a former RICS residential chairman, offered words of reassurance.
He said today’s figures on transactions offered a more reliable indicator of market strength the more volatile house prices. He also said that an end to the pandemic was in sight thanks to the vaccine developments and this could exacerbate this rush.
But he didn’t expect this to be too dramatic nor leave the market desolate in April 2020. He explained: “Looking forward, we don’t expect too much of a change and many of the buyers who may lose out on the stamp duty discount because they don’t complete in time have already told us they intend to try to renegotiate and share the saving with their sellers.”
Today’s HMRC data also revealed the provisional seasonally-adjusted estimate of UK non-residential transactions in October 2020 was 9,140, 5.1% lower than October 2019 and 6.2% higher than September 2020.
