Yesterday George Osborne announced that stamp duty will rise by 3% for buy-to-let landlords and people buying second homes in the combined Spending Review and Autumn Statement as the government looks to favour the owner-occupier market.
Steve Griffiths, head of sales and distribution at Kensington, said: “It is clear that yesterday’s Autumn Statement was a stake in the ground in support of homeownership, with the launch of London Help to Buy and Help to Buy: Shared Ownership, the extension of Right to Buy to housing associations and the doubling of the government’s housing budget.
“The pay-off for this was the 3% increase in Stamp Duty on buy-to-let properties, which comes into force in April. If the Chancellor’s 3% surcharge had been in place for the first three quarters of this year, we estimate that it would have added an average of £4,565 to every buy-to-let purchase.
“When you combine this to the changes to tax relief that were announced in the summer and the more stringent requirement to pay Capital Gains Tax within 30 days, that was announced today, it is clear that a buy-to-let investment will come with more complexity in the future.
“This puts even greater emphasis on the role of good advice and should encourage more mortgage intermediaries to establish partnerships with accountancy firms, as a means of offering more holistic guidance to clients and generating leads.”
