Anxious headlines about the state of the UK property market have accompanied the massive drop recently announced in property transactions between June and July this year.

At any other time, a drop of nearly two-thirds in the monthly residential transaction figures (62.8% between June and July according to the latest provisional HMRC statistics) would precipitate alarm bells across the property industry but, after the peaks and troughs of the last year, I believe it was always predictable and indeed, inevitable.

I recently said myself that property sales would fall off a cliff after the end of the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday in June.

If the HMRC figures are accurate, and there is every indication they are, the rocks are already tumbling off that cliff well before the official end of the holiday when tapering ends on September 30.

But before we press the panic button, we need to look at the backdrop to the July slump and what lies ahead. I, for one, am more than optimistic that a healthy and stable property market can result from the mania of the last year.

Most property lawyers experienced incredible completion numbers up to June 30.

At Convey Law, we recorded our best month ever and completed twice the number of transactions we normally complete in a month.

Colleagues in other legal practices will have experienced similar volumes, I am sure.

Thousands of buyers buoyed by the potential savings to be made in Stamp Duty clearly brought forward their purchasing decisions while cash buyers seized the opportunity to make some money.

Couple this with the pandemic-driven reverse demographic shift we have seen from town and city to country and coast, and most of us in the industry have experienced some of the busiest weeks and months we have ever seen.

July was always going to be quiet after these unprecedented times. It is not an exaggeration to say that none of us have ever seen anything like it in our careers – and may never again – thanks to what we hope will only be a once in a century pandemic.

No wonder then that most property lawyers had to take stock after the end of June. Not only were they physically and mentally exhausted from the trials and tribulations of the last year and the backlog of lockdown work but also by the moveable feast of SDLT deadlines.

We had already lived through the ‘false’ SDLT ending in March when a very large number of transactions were completed and keyed up to complete in the belief the month would see an end to the Stamp Duty holiday before the government extended it to the end of June.

Faced with this extension, the industry had to dig deep and press on for a further three months. July was therefore always going to be a time to recuperate and to regroup but it was certainly not a one-off.

Our experience of August, when many lawyers would have been refocusing on transactions outside the SDLT deadlines and taking well-earned summer breaks, is that the month was similarly low for completion numbers. I am sure that will be borne out by industry figures in the next few weeks.

However, we are now already seeing the market step up apace as we enter September and the race to completion for many before the end of SDLT tapering.

We are expecting another whopping month but I believe that it will not end there as some have forecast.

Encouraged by the demand in the market which has certainly outstripped supply in the last few months, there are clear and encouraging signs more sellers are now coming to market.

I believe that seasonality will also kick back in with a plethora of new instructions this month and throughout autumn, with the next major deadline being Christmas, which is a busy time every year – when conveyancers complete five weeks work in three to get everyone moved in for Christmas.

Increased demand has also been driven and will continue to be driven by the record low interest rates and some of the fantastic mortgage rates and deals – up to 95% – on offer.

The government will not and cannot react to inflation because they have pumped billions into the economy; people have a pent-up desire to spend having been deprived of spending for so long and the government will not want to slow the economy down one bit for the immediate long-term future.

We can expect interest rates to remain where they are for many years to come and house prices to rise significantly by at least 5 – 6% per annum.

Sellers will be encouraged to continue to come to market and the property market should hold steady this year and, I believe, over the next couple of years.

We are also in the middle of an era of drastic social change. A new age of flexi working has begun and remote working in some form is surely here to stay.

The move away from cities will continue along with that drive for a better work-life balance and more space.

People are moving to accommodate their home working requirements and many no longer need to live close to work.  My own daughter is looking for a remote working marketing job in the UK so that she can go and live in Barcelona in the sunshine with her friends!

Others who have found themselves with more money than ever before because they have not been able to spend it on holidays and enjoying themselves during lockdown, are pouring this money into property.

A new property and a new lifestyle have become for many the antidote to that inability to spend and have fun.

Long-term, I hope we may also see an influx of younger people into cities if city property becomes more affordable as new property hotspots spring up elsewhere.

With the end of stamp duty tapering on September 30 also comes the end of the furlough scheme.

I believe that the end of furlough will see an adjustment in employee redundancies – especially in industries hit hard by the pandemic – most notably those associated with foreign travel – but unemployment numbers will adjust quickly.

Equally, moving into next year, Covid vaccinations and boosters will help life return to normal.

I forecast that transaction numbers in 2022 will not be as good as 2021, which was a catch-up year from 2020 and a bumper year due to the SDLT holidays, but I believe that numbers will still be very positive.

On New Year’s Eve 2019, we all welcomed in 2020 with thoughts of a return to the glory years of the 1920s with the 2020s, little knowing what was just around the corner.

Nearly two years’ later, as we head into the last quarter of the year, and with 2022 looming fast, I believe the good times are here to stay for many years in the transactional property market.

They may have been delayed but I hope and believe that we can finally usher in our own Roaring 20s and we are all in for a great time in the industry.

Lloyd Davies is operations director of the Conveyancing Association, deputy chairman of the Society of Licensed Conveyancers and managing director of Convey Law.