Despite recent reports that property sales are up, especially pre the April stamp duty change for Buy-To-Lets, HMRC report that there were 83,590 transactions in January, although the number magically rises to 105,940 when “seasonally adjusted”. This is for the UK as a whole.

The 83,590 figure compares with 115,310 transactions in December, and is the lowest since February last year, when there were 78,540. According to HMRC, there were 1,230,380 transactions last year.