Property Watch – February 2024 UK residential property transactions
The graph below shows the UK housing market transactions for the year to 29 February 2024 with comparatives for the same period to February 2023, as reported by HMRC through Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and Scottish/Welsh equivalent reporting.
* December 2023 to February 2024 figures are provisional due to delays in collecting all relevant SDLT/LTT/LBTT reporting.
The graph above shows:
- The February 2024 residential property transactions amounted to 73,360 transactions which were 2.6% down from February 2023 and 9.0% up from January 2024.
- Not shown in the above graph, but the February 2024 transactions were lower than the February 2020 (pre COVID) transactions by 9,470 transactions (11.4% lower).
- The Bank of England base rate remained at 5.25% throughout February 2024 (increased from 3.50% to 4.00% in February 2023).
- The transactions split by location in February 2024 was as follows:
| No. | % | |
| England | 62,890 | 85.7% |
| Scotland | 5,540 | 7.6% |
| Wales | 3,260 | 4.4% |
| Northern Ireland | 1,670 | 2.3% |
| 73,360 | 100.0% |
Key points to note:
- The January 2024 transactions in the above graph are 810 lower than those reported in our January 2024 issue of this circular (which can be viewed here: Property Watch – January) this is as a result of more data being collected throughout the last month to support the transaction data reported.
UK residential property transaction prices to January 2024
The latest residential price data, as provided by HM Land Registry to January 2024 (so a month out of sync with the transaction data above) shows that prices were 0.6% down at an average price of £281,913 compared to January 2023’s average of £283,664.
Residential property prices are 13.6% up from January 2021 (during COVID) where the average was £248,109 per the Land Registry data.
Property prices in January 2024 experienced a slight increase (0.45% increase) compared to the previous month December 2023’s average price of £280,649.
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 December 2023.
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 the banks and the data is liable to change as the Land Registry receives additional market information.
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 business.
If you would like to find out how we can help please contact Martin Adams, Tax Partner, 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 our insights page.
Chi Duong, a Tax Associate at Ballards LLP, assisted in the preparation of this article.
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.
