According to its March quarterly update, estimated receipts for Q1 2017 are £1.9bn from residential transactions and £789m from non-residential transactions. The estimated receipts from residential transactions are 16% higher than Q1 of 2016, while for the financial year 2016-17, the estimated receipts are 17% higher than in 2015-16.
However, the number of SDLT liable transactions in the first quarter is 5% lower than Q1 2016. There has been a 10% drop in the number of transactions in the £250,000 to £500,000 range, and a 14% drop in those valuations over £500,000.
HMRC’s analysis points out that SDLT liable transactions were unusually high at the beginning of the previous year, due to many buyers rushing to purchase ahead of the introduction of the higher rates on additional properties in April 2016. As a result, it says year-on-year comparisons for this quarter should be made with caution.
The figures include an estimate of SDLT receipts from ‘additional properties’ to which the additional 3% SDLT rate is applied, for example second homes and buy-to-let properties. For 2016-17 there have been 207,700 transactions of additional properties accounting for £3.2bn in total SDLT receipts, of which £1.6bn is attributed to the additional 3% element.
Meanwhile, data from the Nationwide building society shows that UK house prices fell for the second month in a row during April, down 0.4% in April, and the annual rate of price growth slowed to 2.6%, the weakest pace for almost four years.
HMRC Quarterly Stamp Duty Statistics report is here.