There were 5,090 sale and purchase agreements for all types of building units in May, the Land Registry said today. This was a 20.2% fall on April and a 39.9% drop on May last year.

Using a 12-month moving average, the figure for May represented a 4.3% decrease on April and  a 17.3%drop on May last year.

The total consideration of these agreements in the month was $9.4 billion, down 26.9% on April and 53.8% on May 2002.

The statistics generally relate to land transactions executed up to four weeks prior to their submission for registration, as there is usually a time lag between the execution of deeds and their lodgement for registration.