The Land Registry received  5,855 sale and purchase agreements for all types of building units  for registration in January, up 7.3% on December, but down 42.2% compared with January last year.

Using a 12-month moving average, the figure for January  fell 3.5% on December and 3.8% compared with a year ago. 

The total consideration of these agreements in the month was $14.4 billion, down 1.2% on the previous month, and 53.9% year-on-year.

Among the 5,855 sale and purchase agreements, 4,899 were sale and purchase agreements for residential units, up 10.7% over the previous month, but a drop of 38.1% compared with January 2005.