First-time buyers paid 2.8% more for their homes in March as they tried to make savings of 1% in Stamp Duty. The Office for National Statistics said that first-time buyers were unique in paying higher prices this March than March of the previous year...

The number of housing transactions in April was down markedly in April. A total of 72,000 homes across the UK were sold, according to HMRC – down from 88,000 in April, although up on the 70,000 sold in April last year, when the Royal Wedding proved a distraction...

Estate agents may well be advised to call off their Olympics celebrations now – or at least, make sure they’re not for the high jump over them...

Gross mortgage lending tumbled by 19% in April, its downward trajectory propelled by the ending of the first-time buyers’ Stamp Duty holiday. Lending fell from £12...

LSL Property Services has scooped a Chartered Institute of Personnel Development HR award, beating off contenders including Tesco. LSL won the Talent Attraction and Management Award following the creation of dedicated talent acquisition teams whose prime objective is to attract the ‘best in the business’ to join the group...

Asking prices of properties new to the market have not risen in May – and this is the first time in a decade that this has happened. Rightmove says it is unique in the 11 years that it has been in existence that new sellers in May have not raised their asking prices, and it warned that the market has lost its traditional spring momentum earlier than usual...

A total of 1,479 homes were sold at auctions in April. The collective amount raised was £149m, so each residential property went for an average of just over £100,000...

Notorious property fraudster David Watmuff has been jailed for three and a half years after stealing from his own mother. He was sentenced at Newcastle in the name of David Kelso...