Stamp duty receipts to the Treasury in January and February are reported to be 12 per cent lower than the same two months of 2014 - a direct consequence of the reforms to the duty announced by the government at the start of December.
Exact figures have not been released but the drop - discovered by the Financial Times - appears to be roughly in line with the forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The OBR expects the drop not only because of the fall in stamp duty levels for most house purchases since December, but also because it anticipates a reduction in transactions in at least the early part of 2015.
The latest figures appear to conflict with a recent forecast from the Halifax, predicting a likely 20 per cent increase in stamp duty receipts in 2014-15 over 2013-14.
The Halifax's claim was that total revenue from property stamp duty would hit £8 billion in the 2014-15 tax year, compared to £6.45 billion in 2013-14. It also expected the currenyt year's total to overhaul the previous high of £6.68 billion reached during 2007-08.
What does appear to be the case from both the Treasury and the Halifax, however, is that London buyers are shouldering an increasing share of the stamp duty payments because of the relatively high price of property in the capital.
The Halifax says that around 75 per cent of buyers in England and Wales were liable to pay stamp duty in December and January (the first two months of the new duty rates) but in London that figure rose to over 95 per cent compared with just 53 per cent of purchasers in north east England.
Comments