New figures released by HM Revenue & Customs show that there were an estimated 229,400 stamp duty liable transactions between April and June.
That’s down by three per cent on the previous quarter, and 21 per cent on the same period of 2022. It’s the lowest quarterly figure registered since the second quarter of 2020 when transactions plummeted to just 148,600.
Residential transactions in the quarter were down by three per cent on the previous quarter, and 22 per cent on last year, while non-residential transactions actually grew by two per cent on the first quarter of the year. Nonetheless they were still down by eight per cent on the same period of 2022.
The data found that despite the drop in liable transactions, receipts were actually up by two per cent on the previous quarter, at a total of £2.7bn. However, they are down by a third on the same point last year.
HMRC said: “The reductions in residential receipts observed compared to Q2 2022 are driven by a combination of lower transaction volumes, the increase in the nil rate threshold to £250,000 and increase in generosity of First Time Buyers’ Relief from September 2022.”
It comes after separate data found that stamp duty receipts totalled £955m in June, compared with £1.37bn at the same point last year.
Research from The Mortgage Lender has also found that around a quarter of first-time buyers are in the dark around whether they would need to pay stamp duty.
