Residential property transactions increased nearly 22%

Property transactions increased 21.3% from August to September, HMRC statistics show. After the rise, they are slightly lower (0.7%) than in September last year.

Alan Cleary, Managing Director of Mortgages at OneSavings Bank, said: “Housing transactions continued to rebound strongly in September, which is great news for the market.”

“About 100,000, the number of transactions was similar to that of the previous year and in line with the monthly average of recent years.”

“As mortgage approvals for home purchases have risen to their highest levels since before the financial crisis of 2008, housing transactions are likely to increase further in the coming months, as loan costs appear to remain at historically low levels.”

“Bolstered by additional government measures to support employment and boost demand during the winter months, housing market activity is likely to strengthen further in the immediate period.”

“We need help from the lenders for this.”

John Phillips, director of national operations for Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart, said: “The numbers are higher than any of us expected to see and the volume is consistently high across the country, surprisingly the South East and London are a bit calmer.”

“The only downside has been the lack of lenders offering high LTV mortgages. There are still thousands of clients with 10% deposits that are safe investments, and their homeownership is currently being blocked.”

“The market needs a constant supply of these products to support current applicants. Brokers are not concerned with SLAs being extended; delivery to the customer is more important, timing is not the issue. If the lenders can fix that, we expect demand to continue for the rest of 2020.”

“The increase is significant, and that is positive for the market.”

John Goodall, CEO of the specialist rental lender, Landbay, said: “The market for both BTL and residential is much more optimistic than any of us expected in May.”

“September has recovered strongly and is now exceeding the strong demand levels we saw at the beginning of the year.”

“We see that many landlords anticipate an increase in rental demand as it becomes more difficult for people to climb the property ladder due to rising unemployment and the reduction in high LTV mortgages.”

“I hope this increase in number will continue into early 2021 as people rush to take advantage of the stamp tax holiday.”

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