November house sales highest since before the credit crunch

Monthly house sales rose to their highest November figure since before the global financial crisis last month, according to official figures.

Data from HM Revenue & Customs recorded 115,190 residential transactions in the month, up by a fifth on November last year, and by 8.6% on the number recorded in October.

The figure represents the seventh consecutive month of growth in residential transactions since the volume of sales slumped by more than 50% in the wake of the spring lockdown and indicates the continued strength of the property market.

The seasonally adjusted figure is the highest for a November since the end of 2007, and is the highest of any month since the same period, with the exception of the huge spike in transactions seen prior to the introduction of the stamp duty surcharge in 2016.

HMRC said the strong growth in transactions reflected pent up demand from the spring closure of the housing market plus additional demand generated by the temporary Stamp Duty holiday brought in in July.

However, the figures showed that the number of transactions in the financial year so far, running from April, is still well below the number recorded by this point last year, meaning the market still has ground to make up given all the lost transactions which would normally have happened in the spring.

The HMRC figures said 626,550 sales had been recorded since April, just over 20% below the figure for 2019, and the lowest since 2012.

Nevertheless, Paul Stockwell, chief commercial officer at Gatehouse Bank, said the UK property market has undergone an “incredible turnaround” this year. He said: “In the space of seven months, sales volumes have rebounded from the lowest level since records began to a five-year high in November.

“The latest data shows mortgage approvals still running at a 13-year-high so, while it’s widely accepted that the bumper house price growth we’ve seen this year must cool as we enter 2021, a decline in the number of transactions is by no means assured.”