Thursday, November 21, 2024

Rachel Reeves launches tax raid on landlords and second home buyers

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Stamp duty rates also gradually taper up, from 5pc to 12pc for the most expensive properties.

Stamp duty rakes in billions for the Treasury every year. The average bill currently sits at £9,000, compared to £6,000 a decade ago.

But with property transactions falling over the past year, so too have tax revenues for the Treasury. Receipts were forecast to fall from £11.7bn last year to £8.6bn in 2024.

Chris Sykes, a mortgage broker at Private Finance, said: “We need to consider the long term here. The changes announced to stamp duty may dampen the enthusiasm of some first-time buyers long-term, particularly in high-cost areas.

“As they have led the market this year, making up 36pc of total sales, according to Zoopla, today’s announcement could dampen market momentum.”

Mr Sykes added that house price growth may also take a hit, as some first-time buyers decided to leverage the new thresholds to negotiate lower prices.

It came as the Department for Housing published its review into Right to Buy, revealing the Government’s plans to cut the scheme back to pre-2012 discount levels.

This will see the current maximum cash discounts of over £100,000 fall to £38,000, resulting in 25,000 less sales through Right to Buy over the next five years, according to the Government’s estimates.

Ms Rayner’s department said it will return maximum cash discounts to pre-2012 levels via secondary legislation, effective from Nov 21. 

The housing department said “a prolonged period between announcing reduced discounts and implementation is likely to result in a spike in sales”.

Maximum cash discounts for the scheme will also no longer be updated annually in line with inflation, as they have been since 2014.

Ms Rayner said she would also launch a further consultation on percentage discounts separately to match the new maximum cash discounts. Currently, the maximum percentage discount is 70pc. It is understood this could fall as low as 20pc after the consultation.

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