On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, transactions are 13.4% lower than November 2020 and 22.7% higher than October 2021.
Anna Clare Harper, chief executive of property consultancy SPI Capital, says:
"Housing transactions are important because they drive house prices, which both reflect and affect our confidence, and the economy."
"There were 96,290 housing transactions in November 2021, 16.4 per cent lower than November 2020 and 24.3 per cent higher than October 2021. Interestingly, this is not far off the daily number of new Covid cases, a figure which will no doubt begin to impact housing transactions in due course as restrictions and nerves influence people’s ability to buy a new property. The logistics of conveyancing and ultimately moving home are all made much harder with such sharply rising cases of Covid."
"So, in the absence of government involvement, in particular through reduced stamp duty, we can expect a general slowdown in housing transactions going forward."
"A significant reduction in house prices is unlikely in the medium term, since even a rise in interest rates as we have seen this month will not outweigh the general shortage of housing stock as an influence on prices."
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says:
"These figures, which are always a better indicator of market condition than more volatile prices, confirm what we have been seeing at the coalface – buyers and sellers have shrugged off the loss of stamp duty and furlough concessions but are taking advantage of low mortgage rates and less frenzied activity. However, the market is in transition so prices are not rising as fast."
"The Omicron variant and further movement restrictions are only likely to create more pent-up demand but lack of property choice is posing a more serious threat to transaction numbers than rising interest rates and stretched affordability."
