There were 98,010 residential transactions recorded in September, new HMRC data has revealed, a total 0.7% lower than September 2019.

The figure also reflected a monthly increase of 21.3% against August, however.

HMRC’s property statistics also revealed that the total number for non-residential transactions was 9,160 during September, which was 18.7% higher than August, but 6.3% lower than the total recorded in September 2019.

Responding to the latest figures, Landbay CEO, John Goodall, said: “The market both in buy-to-let and in residential is much more buoyant than any of us expected back in May. September has bounced back strongly and is now exceeding the strong levels of demand that we saw at the start of the year.

“We are seeing many landlords anticipating an increase in rental demand as it gets harder for people to get on the property ladder due to increasing unemployment and the reduction in high LTV mortgages. I expect this rise in numbers to continue into early 2021 as people rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.”

Just Mortgages and Spicerhaart national operations director, John Phillips, suggested that now is a “fantastic time” to be a mortgage broker.

“What we’re seeing at Just Mortgages is reflecting the national figures,” he said. “We saw record numbers of applications and exchanges in September. Numbers are higher than any of us expected to see and volume is consistently high across the country.

“The one downside has been the lack of lenders offering high LTV mortgages. There are still thousands of clients with 10% deposits who are safe investments and they are currently being blocked from owning a home. The market needs a steady supply of these products to support current applicants.”

Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, added: “As we look forward, house prices should remain strong for the six months to March 31. However, the effect on the property market of the ‘conveyancing system’ not being able to cope with mass completions at the end of March remains to be seen.

“The government should be looking at allowing some leeway, for example if an offer letter has been produced by 1 March, then it should be allowed until 15 April to complete and receive stamp duty benefit.”

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