HMRC: Stamp duty transaction figures remain unchanged

Stamp duty receipts were £3.3m in Q4 2019.

HMRC: Stamp duty transaction figures remain unchanged

Stamp duty transactions in Q4 2019 were recorded at 314,000 which is similar to the transactions shown the same time in 2018.

According to the latest quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax statistics from HMRC, stamp duty receipts were £3.3m in Q4 2019, which is less than a 1% rise on the £3.29m recorded the year previously.

Residential receipts remained unchanged whilst non-residential receipts increased by less than 2%.

A total of 62,800 (22%) of transactions claimed first-time buyers' relief in Q4, which brings the total to 464,700 since the relief's introduction.

A majority (91%) of all stamp duty transactions were for residential properties.

Liable high rate transactions decreased by 1% to 59,600 in Q4 2019, with 61% of high rate transactions being under £250,000.

Andrew Montlake, managing director at Coreco, said: “For both stamp duty transaction numbers and receipts in the fourth quarter of last year to have come in at roughly the same level as 2018 underlines the resilience of the property market in the face of Brexit turbulence.

“There was certainly no surge in the fourth quarter but neither was there a collapse and that’s proof of how many people wanted to get under a new roof before the sky potentially fell in.

“The rise in the number of transactions claiming first time buyers’ relief bears witness to the urgency of many people to get onto the ladder before potential price rises in 2020, in the event of Brexit provingbenign and the market rebounding.

“The Chancellor should go one step further in the March Budget and raise the 0% limit to £500,000 for first time buyers.

“The signs so far in 2020 are that buyers are returning to the market so we expect stamp duty receipts to be up noticeably in the first quarter of 2020.”