UK home sales ease to 94,800 in September, 4% down on a year earlier
HMRC's provisional estimate is the lowest September reading since 2024 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The October figure is due on 27 November.
By Daily Oracles News Team1 min read
An estimated 94,800 residential sales completed across the UK in September, according to provisional seasonally adjusted figures published by HMRC on Friday. That is slightly below August's 95,300 and 4% below the 98,380 recorded in September 2025.
The unadjusted count was 97,940. That was 1% higher than in August and 5% lower than a year before.
HMRC's table of past Septembers gives some scale. On the adjusted measure, sales were 93,820 in 2024, 85,670 in 2023 and 160,980 in 2021, when HMRC says taxpayers were taking advantage of temporarily higher nil rate bands. The adjusted September figure has not reached 100,000 since 2022, when it was 103,120.
The financial year so far looks firmer. From April to September there were 583,260 seasonally adjusted residential sales, against 536,520 in the same months of 2025. That earlier period started just after a surge of sales in March 2025 and a drop in April, which HMRC attributes to buyers bringing purchases forward ahead of the stamp duty threshold reductions on 1 April 2025.
Commercial and other non-residential deals, a category that also covers agricultural land and purchases of six or more homes in one transaction, were broadly flat. The seasonally adjusted estimate of 10,160 was marginally lower than both August and September 2025. Without adjustment the figure was 10,500, up 16% on August.
These are early numbers and can move. HMRC says they generally settle after about three months, and the count covers property sold for £40,000 or more.
The Bank of England's own September data, published on Thursday, showed 53,400 net mortgage approvals for house purchase, against an average of about 58,800 over the previous six months.
HMRC's next release, covering October, is due at 9.30am on 27 November.
