The number of homes sold in the UK leapt 24% year on year in January, as buyers rushed to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

New provisional figures from HM Revenue & Customs estimate UK residential transactions in January of 121,640. That is 24.1% higher than a year earlier and 2.4% lower than December 2020.

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, said the decline between December and January showed that the “market paused for breath in reaction to further restrictions and another lockdown”.

However, a number of estate agents reported a busy period last month as people tried to complete deals before the stamp duty holiday finishes at the end of March.

Source: Evening Standard