Lonres chief backs higher top-end stamp duty

The increase in stamp duty for high end properties has won perhaps-unexpected backing from the chairman of Lonres, William Carrington.

While many individual estate agents operating in prime central London in particular have spoken out against the increase in duty for properties above £1m - introduced in December along with reforms of the old slab-structure - Carrington has given it the thumbs-up.

He writes in the introduction to the latest Lonres Residential Review that: The Conservatives....were bold enough to reform Stamp Duty Land Tax rates in the Autumn Statement. While not radical, it should clip the wings of a market that has seen relentless price growth in the £1.5m to £5m sector during this parliament. In all honesty, this is long overdue.

However, elsewhere in the Lonres review - written by data consultancy Dataloft - there is the familiar claim that the new duty regime will disproportionately impact upon prime London buyers.

It says that in 2014 some 60 per cent of homes sold in Prime Central London would have attracted higher stamp duty had the regime been in force throughout the year and an extra £204m in stamp duty receipts would have been generated - a 39 per cent rise on the amount actually paid.