How will the budget affect those buying, selling, building and renting property? The long-awaited statement on Wednesday was packed full of measures that could influence the housing market and those who aspire to climb onto it, invest in it or move between homes. Here, we decode the key outcomes.
The surcharge paid by second-home owners and landlords on top of normal stamp duty when purchasing a property will go up by two percentage points. The measure, increasing this rate from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, was introduced from midnight on Wednesday.
The measure is only expected to bring a paltry £400 million into Treasury coffers by 2029-30, a tiny proportion of the overall £25.4 billion forecasted stamp duty for that financial year, but