72,645, the lowest since July 2020, when the stamp duty holiday was first announced by the government. In August 2021, this figure was at 74,214.
Nevertheless, net mortgage lending for transactions completed in September, reached 524 billion pounds ($13.13 billion), its highest since June 2020, the month before the tax break came into force.
“The stamp duty holiday has been highly distortionary, causing transactions to be brought forwards and being a major factor behind the frothiness in prices over the past year,” Martin Beck, a senior economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said.
Meanwhile, consumer morale in the UK sunk to an eight-month low last month, according to the country’s longest-running consumer confidence survey. This was mainly owing to higher COVID-19 infections, sharply rising inflation and fuel shortages at many petrol stations. “Consumer recovery will become increasingly reliant on households’ appetite for borrowing increasing, and on some of the ‘excess’ savings accumulated over the past 18 months being spent,” Beck noted.
