The number of residential property transactions fell in July, the latest figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has revealed, with 100,720 transactions recorded last month, up 0.2 per cent compared to the corresponding month in 2014.

But HMRC’s seasonally adjusted estimate shows that the number of home transactions actually fell by 4.4 per cent between June and July. There were also 10.100 non-residential transactions, down from 10,460 from the previous month.

The volume of non-adjusted residential transactions was 2.4 per cent higher than in June and 8 per cent higher than in July last year.

The number of seasonally adjusted transactions has steady increased over the past seven years, according to the HMRC report, with the volume of seasonally adjusted transactions remaining broadly stable at around 100,000 per month.

The latest figures reflect a “shift-change of late”, with property sales over the past couple of months “stepping up to the mark of last summer”, Peter Rollings (left), CEO of Marsh & Parsons noted.

He said, “In July, sales may have slipped back slightly month-on-month, but we need to remember that the market was working overtime in June to regain lost ground lost before the election.”

Doug Crawford (right), Chief Executive Officer of conveyancing firm myhomemove, agrees that the General Election has had a major impact on the housing market in recent months, and that the outcome of the poll had assured buyers and sellers that the housing market was likely to remain stable, “leading to a spike in the number of property transactions in June”.

He continued, “The HMRC figures show that the number of transactions has barely changed over the last year and this begs the question about why a year’s steady improvement in the economy hasn’t led to an increase in home purchases, particularly when mortgage availability and rates have been so favourable.”

“The main impediment has been a serious shortage in supply. There is a lot of appetite from buyers but not enough homes for sale to meet demand. This mismatch is stoking price rises. In some areas we have even seen instances of gazumping, as sellers look to make the most of competition between buyers by accepting higher offers,”Crawfordadded.