The Conservatives have made clear that they would still slap stamp duty on additional homes – despite pledging to scrap it on primary properties.
Party leader described stamp duty as “a bad tax” during her speech closing the conference in Manchester. Even so, her party has made it clear it will still be levied on property investors.
In a press release issued immediately after Badenoch sat down, the party specified that this will apply only to primary residences irrespective of the price. It will not apply to any additional homes, properties purchased by companies, or by non-UK residents. The release adds that separate taxation exists in Scotland and Wales – and therefore this policy will not apply there either.
Although estate agencies and other property professionals have welcomed the proposal – which would therefore apply only to England and Northern Ireland – at least one major agency has warned of an unforeseen consequence of the policy.
Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, says the move would be guaranteed to have animmediate impact on the housing market. But he adds that “if the Tories are leading in the polls ahead of the next general election, the housing market could grind to a halt” as buyers and sellers wait for the party to take power and abolish the tax before moving house.
Another major agency – Savills – says the actual impact of the abolition would depend on what, in anything, replaced it.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at that agency,, comments: “If, and this is a big if, it is a simple tax giveaway, the likelihood is that the current stamp duty bill simply passes through into house prices. On that basis, that would indicate an uplift in prices of around 2.8%, which is equivalent to around £9,700 on average. However, given the way stamp duty works, this would be unevenly distributed across the country’s housing stock (see below).
“It is difficult to model what it would do to transactions, but it should free up transactions, especially among the groups that bear the biggest exposure to taxes. With the reliefs already available, it would have the least impact on first-time buyer numbers, with much bigger impacts on mortgaged home buyers and downsizers.”
Average Stamp Duty bill (based on average rates of tax for 2021/22 to 2023/24)
| Average Rate | House Price | Average SDLT bill | |
| North East | 1.4% | 184,875 | 2,623 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 1.5% | 228,566 | 3,502 |
| North West | 1.7% | 233,618 | 4,029 |
| East Midlands | 1.6% | 261,393 | 4,081 |
| West Midlands | 1.7% | 268,775 | 4,549 |
| South West | 2.4% | 352,197 | 8,433 |
| East of England | 2.4% | 383,845 | 9,069 |
| South East | 2.9% | 432,130 | 12,393 |
| London | 4.8% | 674,079 | 32,208 |
| England | 2.8% | 354,554 | 9,929 |
| Northern Ireland | 1.3% | 191,233 | 2,404 |
| England & Northern Ireland | 2.8% | 350,127 | 9,729 |
Source: Savills using HMRC data
| Price Band | Average Price | Average SDLT bill | |
| £250,000 or less | 0.8% | 155,421 | 1,297 |
| £250,001 to £500,000 | 1.6% | 352,997 | 5,724 |
| £500,001 to £1,000,000 | 3.4% | 667,960 | 22,921 |
| £1,000,001 to £1,500,000 | 5.5% | 1,225,478 | 67,695 |
| £1,500,001 to £2,000,000 | 7.0% | 1,722,549 | 120,656 |
| £2m+ | 7.1% | 4,689,091 | 334,595 |
| All price bands | 2.8% | 350,115 | 9,729 |
Source: Savills using HMRC data
