{"id":559446,"date":"2026-04-30T21:53:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/559446\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:53:31","slug":"uk-home-sales-plunged-by-41-annually-in-march-as-buyers-feel-impact-of-mortgage-shocks-linked-to-war-in-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/559446\/","title":{"rendered":"UK home sales plunged by 41% annually in March – as buyers feel impact of mortgage shocks linked to war in Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\"UK<\/p>\n

UK home sales plunged by 41% annually in March – as buyers feel impact of mortgage shocks linked to war in Middle East.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
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The estimated number of home sales in March this year was 41% lower than the same month in 2025, according to figures released by HMRC.<\/p>\n

The large annual decrease in sales year-on-year coincided with last year’s surge in transactions ahead of the deadline ending the stamp duty holiday in April 2025.<\/p>\n

The deadline saw thousands of home buyers rush to complete transactions ahead of the deadline, often saving themselves tens of thousands of pounds, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures revealing<\/p>\n

Across the UK, around 104,070 home sales took place in March 2026, which was 1% higher than the previous month, HMRC said.<\/p>\n

Despite the significant fall compared with a year earlier, the March 2026 home sales figure was the highest recorded since March 2025.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates have been easing in recent weeks, but jumped following the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n

Read more: More than two thirds of children under two use screens – with one in ten regularly falling asleep with one<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: Stephen Fry sues tech conference organisers for \u00a3100,000 after falling six feet from stage<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The annual sales decrease was driven by high transaction levels a year earlier.<\/p>\n

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\nAlamy
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Frances McDonald, director of research at Savills, said: \u201cMarch transaction data points to a degree of resilience in the UK housing market, as activity maintains momentum on long-term averages, despite ongoing economic pressures.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, these numbers have likely been supported by those wanting to lock into mortgage offers and transact ahead of further rate rises. Many of these deals will have been agreed and in the pipeline prior to the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true impact of the recent wave of uncertainty will likely become more apparent in the coming months, once mortgage offers prior to the conflict begin to expire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: \u201cMortgage rates have jumped around in recent weeks, given the confused outlook around the length of the conflict and to what extent it could escalate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicky Stevenson, managing director at Fine & Country, said: \u201cThe 41% fall is more about last year\u2019s distortion than a sudden deterioration in demand.<\/p>\n

\"Estate<\/p>\n

Estate Agents window in England, UK.<\/p>\n

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\nAlamy
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\u201cIt\u2019s also worth remembering these figures reflect completions, which typically lag agreed sales by two to four months. With this in mind, the ongoing headwinds affecting affordability may need a little longer to trickle down to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iain McKenzie, chief executive of The Guild of Property Professionals, said: \u201cMortgage rate volatility earlier in the year did weigh on sentiment, but with swap rates easing and lenders beginning to trim fixed-rate products, there are early indications of improving confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent, said: \u201cThe \u2018need-to-moves\u2019 are showing more realism when it comes to negotiations, although the amount of choice of flats in particular means it is taking longer to obtain commitment and some prices are softening a little.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand for smaller family houses has remained relatively strong as we would expect at this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Emerson, chief executive at property professionals\u2019 body Propertymark, said: \u201cAs consumers prepare for the traditionally busy spring months to buy and maybe sell a property, they should keep a close eye on mortgage deals and future affordability in terms of ensuring continuity regarding household budgeting in case of future jumps in inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPropertymark\u2019s sector data recently demonstrated a peak in the number of housing transactions taking in excess of 17 weeks to complete. With current uncertainty within the economy, there is potential for this figure to trend further upwards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google UK home sales plunged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-559446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}