Home sales tumbled by a quarter in May compared with the same month a year earlier, new HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures showed, in another sign that UK housing market is cooling this year.
HMRC reports that there were 74,360 residential transactions in May 2023 is 74,360, 25% lower than May 2022. But, that’s 10% higher more than in April 2023
HMRC say the annual fall “is partly due to higher number of bank holidays in May 2023, but also represents the decline in general market conditions in recent months”.
Sarah Coles at Hargreaves Lansdown noted it "was a barren May for the property market, with sales drying up in the face of scorching inflation."
" It means there’s the risk of a serious sales drought taking hold later in the summer," she reckoned.
Mortgage rates have soared on expectations of further interest rate rises as the Bank of England battles stubborn inflationary pressures.
But so far the market has proved surprisingly resilient.
The Nationwide Building Society reported earlier that house prices fell by 3.5% annually in June and on a month-on-month basis increased only slightly, by 0.1%.