HMRC recorded 95,220 seasonally adjusted residential property transactions in August, a 1.5% monthly fall that left completed sales 2.1% below the same month last year.
The figures, released on 30 September, put the seasonally adjusted total below July’s 96,650. The unadjusted UK count was 96,250, while the latest result remains provisional and may be revised as late returns are processed.
A thinner market affects landlords trying to sell just as much as those looking to buy. Fewer completed deals can lengthen disposal plans, make chains more fragile and leave investors relying on local evidence rather than a national headline when they set an asking price.
August transactions fall below July’s level
HMRC’s series covers completed residential transactions worth £40,000 or more across the UK. It is not a measure of agreed sales or mortgage approvals, which makes it a useful check on whether activity has reached the finish line rather than simply entered the pipeline.
The 95,220 seasonally adjusted estimate compares with 97,040 in August 2025. July’s revised figure was 96,650, so the latest reading does not point to a sudden stop in the market, but it does confirm that the pace of completed moves has softened.
This follows Residential Landlord’s September report on Rightmove asking prices and a 12-year high in homes for sale. More choice for buyers and fewer completed transactions are not the same measure, but together they leave sellers with less room to test ambitious pricing.
Landlord sale plans need more time
For a landlord disposing of a rental home, the practical risk is not only the time to find a buyer. A weaker completion rate can extend the period between accepting an offer and receiving funds, adding exposure to valuation changes, survey issues and a buyer’s finance.
That is particularly relevant where a sale is intended to release a deposit for another purchase or to repay a fixed loan at maturity. The figures do not identify buy-to-let sales, so they cannot show whether landlords are driving the fall. They do, however, describe the market through which those sales must pass.
Investors who are buying can read the same data differently. A slower flow of completions may improve scope for negotiation, but only where the individual property still stacks up on rent, condition and finance. Residential Landlord’s recent analysis of buy-to-let returns over three decades found that rental income has supplied much of the long-run return, rather than price growth alone.
Provisional figures warrant caution
HMRC says the August data are provisional estimates. England and Northern Ireland figures draw on Stamp Duty Land Tax returns, while Scottish and Welsh data come from their devolved transaction-tax systems. Wales is estimated in the latest month using a grossing factor, then aligned as fuller data arrives.
Landlords should therefore avoid treating a single month as a forecast. The more useful signal is that deals completed in August were lower both month on month and year on year, at a point when more stock is competing for buyers in several markets. HMRC’s monthly property transactions release provides the underlying UK series and methodology.
Opinion
Transaction data is a late measure, but it is the measure that pays a seller. Landlords planning an exit should build extra time into any chain or refinance timetable instead of assuming a sale agreed will turn quickly into cash. A market with more choice and fewer completions rewards realistic pricing, not optimism.
