Few collections of information underline the effect of the recession on the property market as clearly as the statistics issued by HMRC last month. HMRC compile the figures from their SDLT returns.

The HMRC data analyses property transactions by reference to the type of property – residential or commercial (including land) and by region. While only transactions with a value in excess of £40,000 are reported, for all practical purposes the figures are complete.

In 2007, there were almost 1.7 million property transactions of all types across the United Kingdom, to a total value of a staggering £480bn. The equivalent figures for 2009 are 906,000 transactions to a total value of £241bn.

In Northern Ireland for 2009, there were 14,000 residential property transactions, valued at over £2bn and 1,000 commercial property transactions worth £752,000. Comparing 2009 with 2007, the number of property deals had fallen by two thirds, and transaction values by even more. By reference to these figures Northern Ireland is one of the UK regions most affected by the slump in property values.

The full data is available at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/survey_of_prop/table16-2.pdf