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Friday 12th February 2010
Stamp duty effect on home sales
Sales of homes below the temporary stamp duty threshold in England and Wales rose sharply in the last three months of 2009, research has shown.
Transactions in areas where the average price was below £175,000 increased by 10.2% compared with the previous quarter, said the Acadametrics report.
But sales in areas where the average property price was above £175,000 only rose by 2.2% over the same period.
The stamp duty threshold dropped back to £125,000 on 1 January.
The government concession had been aimed at halting the rapid slump in the property market.
"Without doubt, year-end activity was heightened by the anticipated end-of-year closure of the stamp duty holiday for properties up to £175,000," said Peter Williams, chairman of Acadametrics.
Property prices
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has previously said that the tax break was of greatest benefit to buyers who lived in the South East of England, but outside London
But the Acadametrics report found that sales spiked on particular types of properties.
In the South East and South West regions of England there was growth of between 8% and 13% in the purchase of flats and terraced properties in the final three months of 2009, compared with the previous quarter.
The larger, more expensive properties in the same areas saw a decline in the number of properties sold of between 1% and 4%.
On a regional level, the areas with the biggest fall in transaction numbers over the same period were Buckingham (down 13%), Herefordshire (down 11%) and Nottingham (down 8%).
Areas with an increase in property transactions included Leicester (up 24%), Thurrock (up 23%) and Staffordshire (up 20%).
Source: BBC News