HMRC: UK residential transactions hit 101,030 in April, up 53% year-on-year but down 3% on March

HMRC's 29 May provisional data shows 101,030 seasonally adjusted UK residential transactions in April, up 53% year on year but down 3% on March. The annual jump is largely a base effect — April 2025 collapsed after the stamp duty threshold change, with deals pulled forward into March 2025. The honest read is the 3% monthly fall, broadly in line with seasonal expectations. For buyers and sellers, April activity held up despite the Middle East shock starting to feed through. The caveat: this is a lagging measure of completed deals, so it does not yet capture how mid-April's swap rate rise will hit new agreements.