Stamp duty hikes will push up rents, says IFS

Fewer new homes will be built and rents will rise as a consequence of the hike in stamp duty on buy-to-let unveiled in last week’s Spending Review, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has predicted. The Chancellor George Osborne announced that a 3 per cent rise in stamp duty for buyers of second homes and buy-to-let landlords will come into play from April 2016, almost trebling the purchase tax on a typical £275,000 buy-to-let home from £3,750 to £10,800. Osborne believes that the new surcharge on stamp duty for landlords and those acquiring second homes will raise £1billion for Treasury by 2021. The tax change will almost certainly result in an inevitable rush of people trying to secure buy-to-let properties before April’s deadline, which could push up home prices in the short-term. But should the buy-to-let market slow thereafter, as many analysts anticipate, it may enable more first-time buyers, squeezed out by investor-driven purchasers, to buy property, but not if there is a major reduction in the construction of new homes. Stuart Adams, a Senior Research Economist at the IFS, projects that the tax increase could deter property developers, with less reason to invest, slowing down the building of new…

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