Property sales increase is not a sign of a reviving market

HMRC’s monthly property transactions for March 2025 show a surge in sales as people sought to avoid the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) increase on 1 April, but this is not a sign of a reviving property market, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.

Heather Powell, Head of Property at the firm, said, “The statistics show that buyers to rushed to get their purchases over the line to beat the SDLT increase that came in from 1 April.

177,370 buyers were successful in completing before the deadline. This is more than double the figures from March 2024 where the number of completed purchases was 86,810.”

She added ,“However, this buying surge is not a sign of the property market reviving. I expect this increase to mirror the pattern observed in 2021 when significant changes in the SDLT rules caused a similar increase in transactions, which were then followed by a notable decrease. Now the new SDLT rate is in place, future 2025 property sales statistics will likely report a fall in the number of sales to around 100,000 per month.

“The lack of confidence in the UK economy, uncertainty about jobs and pay rises, uncertainty about when interest rates will fall, and first-time buyers struggling to afford deposits will continue to have an impact on the property market throughout 2025 despite March’s temporary buying surge.”