The number of house sales fall further

Posted under General by Alan

The number of house sales in the UK fell by 13 per cent in May, fallout of sharp downfall in mortgage approvals. Revenue & Customs that measures stamp duty stated there were close to 100,000 sales, down from about 115,000 in April.

The new figure for last month is down 37 per cent from the corresponding period last year. Also, it is the largest fall month-on-month since December 2006. The figures confirm the fact that home sales have gone down after Easter. A large section of economists think that house prices could fall 30 per cent in the downturn such is the credit crunch.

Simon Rubinsohn belonging to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, stated: “These numbers clearly bring out the very intense pressure on the residential property market.” According to the institution’s own data, housing transactions are now at their lowest since 1978, when it first started measuring them.
“Rics suspects the level of activity will go down further notwithstanding the latest strong retail sales data. A fall in property of this magnitude will sure have an adverse impact on household spending on durable goods and on jobs,” he pointed out.

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