Investors bought fewer homes in 2021 than the year before, the first time in eight years that the trend has declined, new land registry figures show.

The number of transactions fell from 88,000 in 2020 – almost double the previous year’s total – to 51,000.

The Dutch land registry said the figures reflected a rush to buy property in the last quarter of 2020 before the property transfer tax was raised by 1% for investors.

The reform was designed to give first-time buyers a better chance of finding a house within their price range, as the tax has been dropped for under-35s buying a home for themselves.