Treasury takings show stamp duty hike hasn’t stopped investors

The latest figures from the Treasury announcing the amount raised through stamp duty tax since the three per cent increase last year have instilled confidence in the buy-to-let property market, with the results suggesting that investors haven’t been deterred.

Key Findings

• The Treasury has revealed that it collected 18 per cent more stamp duty from the sale of residential property than in 2015 with
• One in five of all homes bought in the second half of 2016 being an additional property. 
• The amount of tax raised through stamp duty on second homes from June to December was £962 million, or 21 per cent of the entire stamp duty tax takings, demonstrating the proportion of the property market still influenced by buy-to-let investors.

Investors have weathered the changes, adopting approaches such as forming limited companies, acting early and buying before the increase, or simply paying the higher stamp duty rate because there was still a strong rental yield and profit to be made.