Property Watch – December 2022 UK residential property transactions

The graph below shows the UK housing market transactions for the year to 31 December 2022 with comparatives for the same period in 2021, as reported by HMRC through Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) reporting.

Property Watch December 2022

* October to December 2022 figures are provisional due to delays in collecting all relevant SDLT/LTT/LBTT reporting.

The graph above shows:

  • The December 2022 residential property transactions amounted to 108,960 transactions which were 1.1% down from December 2021 and 2.6% down from November 2022.
  • Not shown in the above graph, but the December 2022 transactions were higher than the December 2019 (pre-COVID) transactions by 6,690 transactions (6.5% higher).
  • The Bank of England base rate increased from 3.00% to 3.50% on 15 December 2022 (0.1% rising to 0.25% in December 2021).
  • The transactions split by location in December 2022 were as follows:
No. %
England 93,260 85.6%
Scotland 8,660 7.9%
Wales 4,750 4.4%
Northern Ireland 2,290 2.1%
108,960 100.0%

Key points to note:

  • The transaction spikes in March 2021 and June 2021 were a result of the expected and extended end to the £500k SDLT holiday enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The September 2021 transaction spike was a result of the end of the £250k SDLT holiday enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The November 2022 transactions in the above graph are 2,320 lower than those reported in our November 2022 issue of this circular (which can be viewed here) this is a result of more data being collected throughout the last month to support the transaction data reported.

UK residential property transaction prices to November 2022

The latest residential price data, as provided by HM Land Registry to November 2022 (so a month out of sync with the transaction data above) shows that prices were 10.3% up at an average price of £294,910 compared to November 2021’s average of £267,370.

Residential property prices are 27.1% up from November 2019 (pre-COVID) where the average was £232,096 per the Land Registry data.

The graphs below show the change in average residential property transaction values over the past four years and the monthly change in the year to November 2022.

Property Watch December 1 2022

Property Watch December 2 2022

November 2022 is the first month that shows a UK average reduction in house sales prices.  It is likely that these price reductions are supporting the transaction numbers, which helps to explain the high level of November 2022 residential property transactions and the only marginal reduction in December 2022 as discussed above.

Please note that the above data and trends may not be consistent with published data from other data collectors such as property sites (Rightmove etc.) or banks.

Ballards LLP’s property team has extensive experience acting for property-related businesses and can assist investors, developers and associated trades with all financial property matters including; tax-efficient structuring, SDLT planning, Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings planning and reporting, and any other financial matters associated with property ownership.  We act for all sizes of businesses.

If you would like to find out how we can help please contact Martin Adams at martin.adams@ballardsllp.com or on 01905 794 504.

To view past editions of this circular and other topical tax and business insights please visit: ballardsllp.com/insights/

Contains HM Revenue & Customs © Crown copyright data.

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2020. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Disclaimer. This article has been prepared for information purposes only. Formal professional advice is strongly recommended before making decisions on the topics discussed in this release. No responsibility for any loss to any person acting, or not acting, as a result of this release can be accepted by us, or any person affiliated to us.

 

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