The stamp duty land tax surcharge on second homes will increase to 5 per cent, chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.
Speaking in the autumn Budget, Reeves stated that, in its manifesto, Labour had committed to reforming SDLT to “raise revenues” while also “supporting those buying their first home”.
In order to stick to this promise, the Labour government will increase the SDLT on second homes, known as the higher rate for additional dwellings, from its current level of 2 per cent by 3 percentage points.
Reeves argued that this will support over 130,000 additional transactions, including people buying their first home and those moving home, over the next five years.
Saffron Building Society head of business development, Tony Hall, stated that it will be “interesting to see how this plays out”.
These announced changes will take effect from tomorrow (October 31).
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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