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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Shock extra buy to let stamp duty; house building programme confirmed

George Osborne has announced a shock additional 3.0 per cent stamp duty on second homes and buy to let properties.

Details are still being released by the Treasury but in his Autumn Statement, Osborne announced that this additional tax would raise at least £1 billion to fund additional house building across the UK.

In the rest of the Autumn Statement he has promised: 

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- £2.3 billion to be paid directly to developers to build starter homes for sale to first time buyers who will receive 20 per cent discounts. These homes will be capped at £450,000 in London and £250,000 elsewhere;

- another £4 billion will help build 135,000 so-called ‘Help to Buy: Shared Ownership’ homes for households earning less than £80,000 across the UK or £90,000 within Greater London;

- some £200m to help create 10,000 new homes to let that tenants can live in for five years at sub-market rents while they save for a deposit. They will then be given the ‘first right’ to buy the home;

- an additional £400m to help build 8,000 specialist homes for older people or those with disabilities.

Osborne says five housing associations will from midnight tonight pilot the controversial Right To Buy programme. 

Under digital infrastructure announcements regarding HM Revenue and Customs, it now appears likely that those who are subject to capital gains tax when they sell a second or investment property may by 2019 have to pay within 30 days of the completed sale - a much shorter timescale than today.

The additional paperwork released by the Chancellor at the end of his statement is expected to contain some consumer-focussed improvements to the mortgage system - chiefly the introduction of a new tariff system which spells out mortgage fees in a standardised format.

  • Rob  Davies

    Sorry George, I don't believe a word of it. The Tories have had 5 years to build affordable housing and they've so far achieved diddly squat. In fact, house building has been at its lowest level since the 1930s, buy-to-let and Buy to Leave has soared, the number of empty homes has gone out of control and the Tories answer to a severe lack of supply is the revival of Right to Buy, the policy that helped to cause this mess in the first place.

    More weasel words from the government, no actual action will be taken. Brandon Lewis seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth again in recent months, so I don't suspect will see much action on this.

    And since when did £250,000 become classed as affordable? Big clue, George, it isn't. You're still looking at a sizeable deposit and at least two people clubbing together to get anywhere close to said deposit. This whole affordable rubbish is just more spin from the masters of spin.

  • Rookie Landlord

    You're just blinded by your anti-government agenda, Rob. Why aren't you celebrating the fact that affordable homes are being made available rather than bitching about what's gone on in the past? They were part of a Coalition before, maybe they struggled to push through their starter home policy because of that. Have a bit of faith. Maybe the government have now realised that there is a serious problem with housing and are now addressing that.

    I'm much more concerned about this additional stamp duty on buy-to-let homes. This will only serve to put landlords and investors off from entering the market, which is the last thing we need at the moment. Brainless.

  • ken hume

    Putting off more buy to let landlords will just mean less housing stock for rent, meaning rents will rise, offsetting any gain made by affordable investment. Mad decision from an inept chancellor with no clue as to the broader implications of his actions.

  • icon

    Fail to see how an additional £1 Billion will be raised from a hike on BTL and second homes! This will deter landlords from entering the market with less supply and increasing demand. Existing landlords will be the only winners here with increased rents. Property transactions at the lower end will now suffer the same fate as those at the top end of the market. Less transactions = less stamp duty revenue..

    Glenn Ackroyd

    Unintended consequences. They increased stamp duty for high value homes in London, and the net intake fell.

    3% tax on landlords on top of the massive tax on rents, means there will be substantially fewer landlords buying. So less houses to pay stamp duty on meaning the net intake is likely to fall...

     
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