a rare net repayment of mortgage debt in the month of July, the country’s central bank has revealed. According to the Bank of England, in the first net repayment since the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020, £1.4 billion more of mortgage debt was collectively paid back by individuals in the month of July, in comparison to what they borrowed.
The latest figures published last week showed that house sale in the United Kingdom tumbled by almost two-thirds last month, following a frenzied month in June, as consumers raced against the clock to take advantage of the tax break. Figures from HMRC showed that a total of 82,110 house sales were reported in July, which amounted to a 62 per cent decline from the previous month when this figure was at an all-time high of 213,120.
Experts note than this dramatic pause in activity in the housing market following the end of the full tax break was justifiably anticipated. “The stamp duty holiday encouraged people to bring their property purchases forward, so the market was always going to pause for breath when it ended,” a personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Sarah Coles, said.
