UK home sales slumped by 62% last month as activity in the market cooled following a scramble to meet a stamp duty holiday deadline, official figures show.

The number of residential property sales fell to 82,110 in July after hitting 213,120 in June – the highest level on records going back to 2005 – according to HM Revenue and Customs.

HMRC said that after the 30 June cut-off for the stamp duty holiday “an expected but noticeable decrease has been observed”.

Yet purchases were still 1.8% higher than in July last year when the market remained in the doldrums following the first lockdown.

The stamp duty holiday announced last summer helped to revive activity.

It meant buyers would not have to pay any stamp duty on properties worth up to £500,000.

The tax break is now winding down with the threshold cut to £250,000 at the end of June and it will return to its usual level of £125,000 at the end of September.

Official figures published last week showed the scramble to complete deals before the end of June had pushed house prices to a new record high.

More recent data for July from Nationwide showed prices starting to cool.

Related posts:

Domino’s Pizza to roll out drive-thru service as it seeks truce with franchisees US buyout firm Platinum Equity plots RMD Kwikform bid Next snaps up 25% stake in Reiss in latest high street deal Fund manager River and Mercantile plots sale of Solutions arm N Ireland risks ‘instability and uncertainty’ if post-Brexit deal renegotiated, top EU official warns Go-Ahead hits the buffers as it scrambles to calculate fallout from Southeastern scandal Britain’s economic recovery slowed to a near-standstill even before Omicron ‘Britcoin’: There isn’t a ‘convincing case’ for a digital currency in the UK, House of Lords committee says Tesco hails Christmas sales growth ‘despite growing cost pressures and supply chain challenges’ Ex-Farfetch executive Robb among contenders to become ASOS CEO Unilever risks becoming a takeover target as it pursues GSK’s consumer healthcare arm Pay rises wiped out by surging inflation, official figures show