HMRC has raised £10 billion through stamp duty on property transactions in the year to the start of July.
This includes commercial property too but the surge in revenue to the Exchequer is largely down to sharply rising transaction volumes and prices on residential properties in many areas of the country.
This total means more stamp duty has been paid on property in the past 12 months than in any comparable period since the start of the downturn in 2007/8, when a roughly similar amount was collected.
HMRC’s release of these figures comes as a calculation by estate agent Haart shows that the average house will incur an extra £5,000 in stamp duty within two years if prices continue to grow at their current pace.
It claims the average house price in England is currently £204,429 and the current rate of growth is 10 per cent a year - rather more optimistic than most agents report and much higher than many housing indices indicate.
But if that double digit house price growth occured for the next two year, it would push the average house into the three per cent stamp duty category by 2016.
Haart chief executive Paul Smith says policymakers should consider reforming the current duty thresholds. “The government and the Bank of England need to be careful not to over cool the market and by raising the threshold could help keep the market fluid” he says.
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