There was no major rush to buy in the final weeks of the stamp duty holiday according to local chartered surveyors. This was despite the rate at which Stamp Duty Land Tax applies reverting back to £125,000 from £175,000 at the beginning of January.
On the whole, transaction volumes iwere down in the traditionally quieter lead up to Christmas, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
A net balance of 18 per cent of respondents to the survey said that transactions levels were down (36 per cent said they were down, 46 per cent said they remained the same and 18 per cent said they were up). Most other respondents (23 per cent) said that prices fell by up to 2 per cent in the period, with others reporting marginal price increases, or larger falls.