As a fitting end to a roller-coaster year, December 2021 ended with new private home sales down more than half (58 per cent) compared to the previous month. In some ways this was expected, with the implementation of new cooling measures – but with demand at a peak, will we continue to see more subdued sales? Opinions from realtors and investors are quite divided at the moment: New private home sales fell by more than half, following new cooling measures The government announced new cooling measures on 15^th December 2021. The new policy increases Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) for some buyers, and places tighter limits on home loans; you can read about the full range of measures in this article. In the past, announcements of cooling measures could sometimes cause a spike in sales volumes; this was because show flats would extend opening hours,...