The future for renting homes looks encouraging as more poor sales statistics show the housing market is stalling.

Official figures compiled from HM Revenue and Customs show 5.5% fewer homes changed hands in August than July.

Around 85,000 properties worth more than £40,000 were sold during the month, down from 90,000 in July, says HMRC.

Although the figures show an increase on the 79,000 transactions that took place in August last year, the current level is less than half the 162,000 homes that were sold in August 2007, before the recession struck.

Meanwhile property portal Rightmove’s monthly house price index reports that:

• New sellers drop average asking prices by 1.1% (£2,474), the third consecutive monthly fall

• Prices have now fallen by 3.4% in the last three months, half way towards wiping out the gains made in the first six months of the year

• 26,000 new properties come to market per week, the lowest since April

• Average unsold stock per agent stabilizes at 79 after six consecutive monthly rises

Also, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said lending last month had fallen to the lowest level for August for a decade.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: “The HMRC data continues to demonstrate the subdued level of activity in the residential property sector.

“Despite ongoing concerns about the prospects for the economy, the latest RICS Housing Market Survey showed sales expectations are improving.

“However, with mortgage finance still in short supply and little evidence of a meaningful shift in behaviour from lenders, it is hard to see this slightly more optimistic mood being translated into significant higher sales volumes.”

Buy to let finance is also expected to become harder to obtain as Lloyds, the lender responsible for 50% of the funding over recent months, changes borrowing rules from the weekend.

Investors will be limited to purchase or remortgages of three properties with the group up to a value of £2 million.

Lloyds owns the brands BM Solutions, C&G, and Halifax.