HOUSE sales in the north slipped by 43 per cent month-on-month in October after a stamp duty holiday ended, figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) show.
Provisional data showed 2,240 transactions took place which was 27 per cent lower than October 2020 and 43 per cent down compared with September 2021.
HMRC said the data pointed to "impacts from forestalling”.
Forestalling happens when action is taken in advance to prevent an anticipated event. In this case, it refers to buyers snapping up homes before the stamp duty holiday in Northern Ireland and England ended on September 30.
The temporary stamp duty holiday was unveiled in summer last year, and transactions hit peaks this year in March, June and September.
But the 28,800 residential properties sold in the first ten months of this year has already made 2021 the busiest year for the Northern Ireland housing market since 2007.
Meanwhile, the north’s commercial property market picked up again in September, with 310 deals done, the highest since June.
