HMRC says residential property transactions rose to a one-year high in March, but landlords still face a tight acquisition window once stamp duty costs and financing pressure are stripped back into the picture.
Transactions hit a one-year high but the comparison is distorted
Seasonally adjusted UK residential transactions reached 104,070 in March 2026, up 1 percent on February and the highest monthly figure since March 2025. But they were also 41 percent lower than a year earlier, when activity was inflated by buyers rushing to complete before the April 2025 stamp duty threshold changes.
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said the annual slowdown was no surprise and warned that current economic uncertainty could still push transaction times higher through the months ahead.
For landlords, that matters because the market is not really sending a simple recovery signal. The monthly rise shows deals are still moving through, but it does not mean buying conditions have turned easier for investors facing the additional property surcharge and higher borrowing costs.
This follows Residential Landlord’s previous analysis of the tighter window for landlord acquisitions. The latest HMRC figures suggest the market is still functioning, but not in a way that removes the structural cost barriers landlords have been dealing with since the stamp duty changes.
Finance caution is still shaping investor behaviour
Ryan McGrath, director of second charge mortgages at Pepper Money, said the latest data looked steadier once last year’s tax distortion was stripped out. He also said many borrowers were preserving existing mortgage arrangements rather than refinancing into higher-cost deals unless there was a clear financial benefit.
That is a useful reality check for landlords. Even if transactions are rising month on month, many investors are still moving cautiously because debt costs remain high and the economics of expansion have become harder to justify.
Opinion
The headline one-year high sounds encouraging, but landlords should not read too much into it. The market is more resilient than the annual drop suggests, yet the cost of actually buying remains high enough to keep many investors on the sidelines.
