The knock on effect of this was almost a 7.5% decrease in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) receipts, down 968 million on the 2017/18 tax year.
Paul Haywood-Schiefer, manager in Blick Rothenberg’s private client team said, “It’s not surprising to see a downturn in the figures for both property transactions and SDLT receipts over the past year. Buying a new property is a big decision and people tend to put off making such judgements when there is uncertainty about the future. The last year or more has been dominated by Brexit and this is clearly something that is affecting the market and this downturn has cost the Government nearly £1bn in lost revenue.
Whilst SDLT receipts are down, receipts from other taxes are much healthier.
The last year or more has been dominated by Brexit and this is clearly something that is affecting the market.
Paul added, “If you look across the board, tax receipts have been on the rise in the 2018/19 tax year, with the total receipts up just under £53.5bn which is approximately 5%, at a time when current inflation is at 1.8%. The biggest increases [sic on the major taxes] within those results is on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) receipts, which have grown by almost £1.5bn. However, with CGT, as most of this is collected in the January following the end of the tax year, so the real growth there is related to transactions occurring in the 2017/18 tax year. As such, it will be interesting to see the position next year.”