UK property transactions fall 2% to 96,710, HMRC data shows

UK residential property transactions fell 2% in July 2026. HMRC's provisional seasonally adjusted estimate came in at 96,710 completions, against 98,390 in June. The figures sit in its release Monthly property transactions completed in the UK with value £40,000 or above, published 28 August 2026. That is a drop of 1,680 completions in one month, and it leaves the seasonally adjusted count 1% below July 2025.

Why did UK property transactions fall in July?

Strip the seasonal adjustment out and the direction flips. The provisional non-seasonally adjusted count for July was 106,620, which is 3% up on June and 5% up on July 2025's 101,650 (Mortgage Strategy, 28 August 2026). That year-on-year gain works out at 4,970 extra completions.

So the raw market got busier and the adjusted market got quieter. Both are true. They measure different things. Mark Harris, chief executive of SPF Private Clients, told Mortgage Strategy (28 August 2026) that a "relatively steady number of buyers and sellers pressed ahead with their plans." Our property investment strategies hub goes deeper on reading volume shifts.

Non-residential transactions moved in a third direction. Seasonally adjusted, they were marginally higher than June but 2% lower than July 2025. The non-seasonally adjusted count was 3% up on the month (The Intermediary, 28 August 2026).

Seasonally adjusted or raw: which number should you use?

Seasonally adjusted means the figure is recalculated to strip out the predictable calendar pattern, so a quiet August compares fairly against a busy March. The raw number is what actually completed. In July the two sat 9,910 apart.

Use the adjusted series to read direction and the raw series to plan cash flow. One point on jurisdiction: HMRC's series counts completions across the whole UK, but the tax itself is devolved. Stamp duty land tax applies in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland charges land and buildings transaction tax, Wales charges land transaction tax. Run the right one through our free stamp duty calculator before you model an acquisition.

What a thinner month does to a portfolio

From a portfolio perspective, a 2% adjusted dip is noise. What I watch is how long a sale takes. That stretches a buy, refurbish, refinance, rent (BRRR) cycle and keeps money out of the next deal. If you hold five to twelve properties and one refinance slips a quarter, the drag lands on the whole plan. Consider re-running your rental coverage on a stressed rate in our buy-to-let stress test calculator.

There is a buying side too. Over the cycle, softer months are months when chains break and some vendors turn genuinely motivated. That is where deal sourcing software earns its keep across a portfolio rather than on one purchase.

The wider run of data is the stronger signal. Non-seasonally adjusted transactions across April to July 2026 totalled 389,490, against 337,530 in the same four months of 2025 (Mortgage Strategy, 28 August 2026). That is 51,960 more completions, a rise of 15.4%.

Source note: the originally queued report page was unreachable at the time of writing. Every figure above comes from HMRC's 28 August 2026 release as reported by the publications listed below.

Key takeaways

• UK residential property transactions fell to 96,710 in July 2026, seasonally adjusted, down 2% from 98,390 in June.

• That seasonally adjusted count sat 1% below July 2025. The raw count of 106,620 sat 5% above it.

• Non-residential transactions were 2% lower year-on-year, seasonally adjusted.

• April to July 2026 raw transactions hit 389,490, up 15.4% on 337,530 a year earlier.