About 25% of properties bought in the UK in the third quarter of 2016 were a buy-to-let or second home purchase, figures recently released by the tax department revealed.
Following the 3% stamp duty surcharge coming into effect earlier this year, more accurate figures can now be published, indicating how many investment properties were bought over a certain period of time.
Greedy sellers keep property on the market for an extra month, especially in London
The HMRC data revealed that the Government has collected about £670 million in stamp duty since introducing the new stamp duty rules.
A total of 235,000 properties were sold in the third quarter that also were subject to stamp duty. Out of this number, 56,100 properties fell under the new rule, adding 3% stamp duty and therefore bringing in extra duty worth £440 million.
The number of additional homes bought in the second quarter of the year, directly after the change and during a traditionally quieter period, was lower. After that, sales doubled during the third quarter.
Separate data from the Land Registry reveals that in England and Wales there were 95,300 residential and commercial property sales submitted for registration in September.
Out of that, 70,237 were freehold and 11,497 were newly built while 552 properties over £1 million were sold of which 313 were in London.
When it comes to the most bang for bucks, the most expensive residential sale in September was a semi-detached property in London’s borough Kensington and Chelsea for £10,915,000 whilst the cheapest was a flat in Liverpool for £12,000.
