The number of houses and apartments changing hands in April this year was down 9% on a year ago, according to national land registry figures.

In April 2011, 10,068 houses were registered as having new owners, down from 11,069 the same month in 2010. Month on month, the drop is 3.5%.
Apartments showed the biggest decline – 12.2% – while the number of detached houses that changed hands rose by 2.1%.