UK housing transactions May 2021

The latest data from HMRC on UK housing transactions was released this morning

What they said

114,940 housing transactions in May 2021

138% higher than May 2020

4% lower than April 2021

Twindig take

The provisional number of housing transactions in May 2021 was 114,940, 4% lower than in April but around 15% higher than the pre-pandemic run rate. The interesting question is, why are transactions higher? Is the housing market healthier? Is it the Stamp Duty holiday impact? Or are we feeling safer as more and more of us are vaccinated? It is probably a combination of the stamp duty holiday and the vaccine rollout combined with the change in housing demand due to working from home. However, a spike in transactions in June would point to demand being led by the Stamp Duty holiday as the Stamp Duty holiday benefit is reduced from 1 July before returning to pre-holiday levels on 1 October 2021. With several moving parts, the trends will be tricky to unpick, but over time we believe the overall picture will come into focus.