We all know that a number of years ago, the former Chancellor Osborne hiked Stamp Duty (SDLT) rates for properties above £900,000 and this has now caused a DIY recession in the London Residential Property Market, such that turnover of sales is down by 70% and values by about 25% from the former highs of 2014.
In some sectors the market is stodgy and illiquid. What did Osborne expect?
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The number of properties sold in the middle to higher brackets have fallen by some 40% resulting in Stamp Duty, derived from sales above £1.5million from April to November last year, being down by £440million. How many hospitals and schools could this provide?
Isn’t it ironic, that the main plank of the former Chancellor Osborne’s fiscal discipline was to produce a Budget surplus in 2020, which has now been revised by Mr. Hammond, to approximately £20bn and 50% of this, according to the OBR, will be due to lower Stamp Duty Receipts; which was Osborne’s folly.
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What on earth is everyone going on about? True, the market is extremely buoyant between £200,000 and £600,000 where there is little stock and where you can sell a property to whomever you want within a matter of hours. However, at the middle to upper end of the market, there is a recession going on which probably started a year ago and where values are dropping by 10-15%.
There are very few buyers, particularly above £10million, either locally or from abroad. The Non-Dom fiscal changes, the draconian Stamp Duty rates and the low oil price have all seen to that. Continue reading