More homes were bought and sold in June than any other month since records began, new figures have revealed.
The research, published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), comes as the Stamp Duty holiday came to a close this month.
According to the report, almost 213,000 residential transactions were completed in June 2021 –219% more than in June 2020 and 74.1% more than in May 2021.
This also represents the highest number of properties sold in a month since records began in April 2005.
Commenting on the statistics, HMRC said the figures captured “significant impacts from forestalling activity by taxpayers” ahead of the end of the Stamp Duty holiday.
The relief, introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to stimulate the property market, increased the Stamp Duty land Tax (SDLT) threshold to £500,000 – meaning nine out of 10 homebuyers could avoid paying any tax at all.
But the temporary threshold was replaced by a transitional rate of £250,000 from 01 July, meaning buyers rushed to complete purchases ahead of the deadline.
“Forestalling is when advanced action is taken to prevent an anticipated event. For these statistics, forestalling refers to taxpayers completing property transactions earlier to take advantage of government housing market policies,” said HMRC.
“Forestalling has been observed in England and Northern Ireland as taxpayers sought to complete transactions before the temporarily increased nil rate band to £500,000 for residential Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) ended on 30 June 2021.”
Iain McKenzie, the chief executive of the Guild of Property Professionals, added: “Much of last month’s rise is due to the last-minute scramble to make the most of the stamp duty holiday, but the holiday hasn’t fully wound down yet and we could still see a boom in areas with housing priced under £250,000.”
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