UK Housing Market At Record High For October

Surpassing the pre-pandemic levels, the UK's real estate market experienced the busiest of October in a decade.

An estimated 105,630 residential transactions occurred in October showing that more home changed hands. The information had been released by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the tax collecting body of the country.

Marc von Grundherr, director of Benham and Reeves estate agency said in response to the data:

"There's no doubt that the reopening of the property market and the stamp duty holiday caused a huge influx of buyer demand.

"However, it's only really now that this demand is starting to translate into a full return to health where actual transactions are concerned.

"This is, of course, due to the lagged nature of the property selling process and so this positive health report is really just the start of what should be a steep increase in transaction volumes over the coming months."

According to the NAEA Propertymark's October Housing Report, the average number of prospective buyers registered per estate agent branch increased in October. Last year there was a recorded 341 house hunters on average. This year, October saw the number rise to 451.

Chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, Mark Hayward commented:

"Typically, we see the property market slow down as we approach the festive period and people put their sale on hold until the New Year.

"However, the pressure of completing sales ahead of the Stamp Duty holiday ending means that we have seen the number of potential buyers and the number of sales completed remain unusually high for this time of year.

"This boom has been hugely beneficial for the housing market; however, we are increasingly concerned about the impact of the stamp duty cliff edge on 31st March 2021.

"This cliff edge has already increased pressure on service providers within the industry, causing delays for buyers and sellers, and could cause thousands of sales to fall through at the final hurdle as buyers realise their sale will not be completed ahead of the deadline."