"When you add in the Chancellor’s announcement on stamp duty you would hope that this upward trend is set to continue."
Despite this, the number of transactions remains 35.9% lower than in June 2019.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the number of residential transactions in June totalled 68,670, 31.5% lower than June 2019.
Richard Pike, sales and marketing director at Phoebus Software, said: “Although the figures from HMRC today are provisional, and we are advised to accept them with caution, these are not the only signs that the housing market is on the move again. When you add in the Chancellor’s announcement on stamp duty you would hope that this upward trend is set to continue.
“Coming out of lockdown, even with an air of caution, has given many people the impetus to pick up where they left off. Whereas for others, especially those who have been living in flats with little or no outside space during lockdown, may be thinking that now is the time to look for a new home.
“All the signs are positive so now it’s up to the lenders to jump into action, while the demand is there.”
Andrew Southern, chairman of property developer Southern Grove, added: “The annual decline isn’t particularly flattering but it’s the trajectory that’s most important. The next few months are going to make June look like an amuse-bouche rather than an entrée.
“June was the first full month of housing transactions since the property market swung back into action post-lockdown.
“A healthy improvement in volumes month on month points to a large proportion of agreed sales that were knocked back due to the pandemic finally reaching completion. However, those who only began seriously looking in late May won’t necessarily feature in these figures for months yet.
“A better leading-edge indication of where we are comes from the property portals who have been reporting strong activity, with indications that there has been a further surge in demand since the Chancellor announced the stamp duty tax break. The stage is set for the waves of transactions to grow steadily bigger as each month passes and that’s going to do wonders for the confidence of house builders who are planning their project pipeline.”
