Scottish houses over £250,000 will not sell!

I_have_spoken

YeSNP plan to put stamp duty at 2% up to £249,999, then 10% from £250,000 to £1M

Certainly that jump of 8% for £1 spent will put the mockers on adding-value to "doer-uppers" bought around £200,000 etc.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

It's significantly more complicated than that, but 90% of purchasers will be better off under the new system in 2015 than the current system of stamp duty.

A £130,000 purchase now would require a duty payment of £1,300 - but a £130,000 purchase next April won't require any tax payment.

A house bought at £136,000 in April 2015 would require a one-off payment of £20 - but a house bought at £136,000 now would require a one-off payment of £1,360.

A property bought at £300,000 in 2015 would mean a £7,300 charge [0% of £135,000; 2% of £115,000 and 10% of £50,000]. With stamp duty for a house at this price currently at 3%, the stamp duty payment would be £9,000.

A £3m mansion bought in April 2015 would bring a tax charge of £317,300. Purchase that now and you'd be paying £210,000.

Thrugelmir

Appears not interested in attracting entrepreneurs then. Nor any incentive to attract senior execs in the financial industry either.

12% over a million as well.

michaels

Part of the reason for encouraging turnover in the housing market is that house purchases also encourage people to buy new carpets, curtains, furniture, redecorate etc helping a lot of shops and tradesmen - make it very expensive to move, especially for those looking for more expensive houses who are more likely to splash the cash and you kill part of the economy.

To say nothing of why it is fair to tax people just for buying an asset - by all means tax gains on the asset but taxing the asset itself every time it is transacted is just silly.

vivatifosi

Won't this disproportionately impact Edinburgh?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

Won't this disproportionately impact Edinburgh?

Sort of... In all likelihood it'll cause different distortions to stamp duty but not really any better or worse overall. It might decrease HPI at the higher levels, but increase it at the lower levels.

Basically the vast majority of house sales in Scotland under £325,000 will now be cheaper. (and that also includes the majority of sales in Edinburgh)

I think from the initial proposals there were a couple of small distortions in there but no worse than the current bracket distortions.

The majority of sales above 325K will cost a little more, but not enough to really be an issue.

It starts to hurt a bit heading towards a million, and hurt a lot once you get into several millions, but in all probability people buying those houses can afford it.

It's basically another Scottish socialist 'soak the rich' policy.

And as in this case I'm not counted as one of 'the rich', I don't really care.;)

Graham_Devon

Under the new system, 90% of taxpayers and 95% of non-residential taxpayers would be better or no worse off, Mr Swinney added.

Is the above true? If so, I don't see it as too massive a problem to be honest.

Afterall, no one HAS to buy a million pound house. It's a tax on your choices, not on your wealth.

For those who just have to buy a normal place to live in, they won't pay as much tax.

Feel taxes like this are fair to be honest. In actual fact, I think it's rather a good move, protecting those who buy a normal house to house their family in, and only taxing those who choose to buy something well over most peoples actual needs.

Thrugelmir

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Is the above true? If so, I don't see it as too massive a problem to be honest.

As has been the case in France. People will vote with their feet. If taxation policy is deemed harsh.

This is probably the tip of the iceberg. With income tax likely to follow a similar track.

Welcome to England!

Gangaweed

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Appears not interested in attracting entrepreneurs then. Nor any incentive to attract senior execs in the financial industry either.

12% over a million as well.

Who needs entrepreneurs when you have oil.


Ahem....

Graham_Devon

Thrugelmir wrote: »

As has been the case in France. People will vote with their feet. If taxation policy is deemed harsh.

This is probably the tip of the iceberg. With income tax likely to follow a similar track.

Welcome to England!

Who has voted with their feet in France?

I know business don't particularly like it there, but are people themselves moving elsewhere in any large number?

I don't think any country does particularly well attracting wealthy people who want to avoid tax.

Thrugelmir

Gangaweed wrote: »

Who needs entrepreneurs when you have oil.


Ahem....

Todays news.

The oil price also fell, with Brent crude down more than 1% at $90.32 a barrel, its lowest level for more than two years.