In the fourth quarter of 2017, HMRC collected more than £2.54bn in stamp duty on residential property transactions, according to figures released today.
The figure reflects a 5 per cent increase on the total collected in the same quarter in 2016 and is made up of 229,900 liable residential transactions, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.
The number of liable transactions in Quarter 4 of 2017 is 1 per cent lower than Q4 of 2016.
For the financial year to-date for 2017-18, the number of liable transactions is 3 per cent higher than the same period in 2016 to 2017.
The number of liable transactions valued under £250,000 in Q4 of 2017 is 9 per cent lower than Q4 of 2016, while the number of liable transactions valued between £250,000 and £500,000 in Q4 2017 is 6 per cent higher than Q4 of 2016.
The number of liable transactions with transaction value over £500,000 in Q4 2017 is 11 per cent higher than Q4 of 2016.
Search Acumen director Andy Sommerville says: “Despite the flurry of excitement surrounding the government’s cut to stamp duty for millions of first-time-buyers, today’s figures show the impact of the tax cut will take a while to bed in and materialise, as the housing market slowed to a sluggish pace in the closing months of 2017.
“We expect the coming months will start to portray a positive picture of the stamp duty cuts and its impact, as first-time-buyers enabled by the tax change will be completing their purchasing journeys in the coming weeks and months.
“Any surge in first-time-buyer activity however, needs to be met with a surge in supply.”
