The number of UK property exchanges increased by 57% between 3 and 23 January compared with the five-year average, according to Knight Frank.
Over the corresponding time period, there was a 43% uplift in the quantity of offers accepted and an 18% rise in new prospective buyers, suggesting that there is still momentum in the market, as buyers rush to beat the stamp duty deadline.
Meanwhile, web traffic to Knight Frank’s stamp duty calculator page shows that unique visits were up 118% between December and January.
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: “Stamp duty accounts for around £12bn of the government’s £635bn annual tax revenues. It is not a huge slice, but every bit of revenue is significant as the government attempts to re-balance the books. The bandwidth for a wider re-think of property taxes is unlikely to exist at present.
“However, there is some pressure to extend the holiday from the so-called ‘red wall’ group of Tory MPs. Furthermore, the conveyancing system is creaking under the pressure of high deal volumes and stories of transactions collapsing at a time when labour market mobility is under scrutiny may increase the pressure on the Treasury. That said, two months from the end of the holiday, it feels like any government U-turn would need to be particularly sharp.”
53% above what????
This is just an advert for knight frank rather than news.
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Since March 2020, we have never had a financial year like it, and certainly not the individual conveyancer’s financial performance. Massive in a word. February and March will be even better, mammoth and yet for many firms, these next two months will be where they cerate PII claims as they will make legal mistakes all over the place in their rush,
Career ending and firm ending legal mistakes for some.
Instead, slow down, make sure you are prompt for sure, but don’t miss anything, as your work will be for nothing, and even worse, the work of your colleagues too, who are doing everything right, when your work is poor.
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