Chancellor of the Exchequer
-
Latest property news
Is this the wiggle room Hammond needs? Property transactions rise by 9.2%, says HMRC
The number of residential property transactions during October increased by 9.2% year-on-year, according to the latest figures from HMRC. Last month 105,260 residential properties were sold above the value of £40,000 in the UK which, as well as being substantially higher than October last year, is 1.7% higher than September. But the market in England has some way to go before it attains the heady heights of the pre-financial crash years during which transactions reached over 130,000 a month. “The uptick in property transactions demonstrates the underlying stability of the sector, and is a positive message to the market ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, which is expected to be largely housing focussed,” says Stephen Wasserman, Managing Director of West One Loans (pictured, left). “It will take some time for the market to fully recover from the upheaval of stamp duty hikes and economic uncertainty caused by Brexit negotiations, but if Hammond scraps stamp duty for first-time buyers, as it’s rumoured he may do so, we could see the market grow at a faster rate.” These latest HMRC figures come just a month after it revealed that its revenues from Stamp Duty levied on residential properties increased by 10% to £11.76 billion…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Spring Budget 2017: stunned industry wonders where the property went
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivered a Spring Budget 2017 totally devoid of any help for the UK’s struggling housing market. It also failed to lessen or backtrack on recent Stamp Duty hikes for landlords or the lettings fees ban. The only palpable good news for agents includes a mooted extra tax for digital-only businesses to level the playing fields with their high-street competitors – something for agents facing competition from online-only and hybrid ones. Corporation tax Other business benefits within the budget include a reduction of corporation tax from 19% to 17% by 2020 and that businesses with turnovers below the VAT threshold will be given a year’s grace before having to start quarterly digital reporting. Business rates But for the industry’s 20,000 branches, a much-hoped-for reform of the business rates system did not materialise as major hikes loom for many high-street operators. Instead, and in order to see off a potential Tory rebellion, the Chancellor announced a fighting fund of £435m to help soften the blow. This will include a £300m discretionary fund to be shared out by councils to businesses least able to take the rates hit. Hammond also pledged that no business losing its small…
Read More »
