HMRC admits to error in UK house sales figures

Monthly residential property statistics published by the Government will not be appearing in August because errors have come to light.

Under stamp duty requirements, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is advised of completed UK property transactions where values are £40,000 and above.

The latest update on house sales was scheduled to be published on 21st August but according to a BBC report, HMRC statisticians have come to the conclusion that something doesn’t look quite right.

Outputs obtained whilst creating the August update (which covers the month of July) contained some significant and unexplained differences with the statistics published a month earlier and publication will therefore be delayed until September.

HMRC says it is confident that its statistics on property transactions processed by month up to February 2008 are not affected by any problem.

Figures for June showed a 45% year-on-year drop in completed property transaction, to 77,000, and HMRC will no doubt be confirming or amending the alleged decline as soon as its statisticians can diagnose the problem.

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