House deals slump again

THE NUMBER of property purchases slumped by a further 13 per cent last year to the lowest level since 1974, according to the Central Statistical Office.

The figures for December bounced back sharply from the all-time low in November, but were down 12 per cent over the previous December. However, the increased house-hunting reported by estate agents would not necessarily show up in the transactions figures for some months.

The official figures for England and Wales show that there were 93,000 transactions during December, after allowing for seasonal factors. This brought the total for the year to 1,136,000. The peak for transactions was in 1988, when there were 2,148,000 purchases.