Sunderland's £5m stamp duty bill

Home buyers in Sunderland paid £5m in stamp duty last year – as the property industry calls for an extension of the current holiday on the tax.
House sales in Sunderland generated £5m in stamp duty last yearHouse sales in Sunderland generated £5m in stamp duty last year
House sales in Sunderland generated £5m in stamp duty last year

In a letter to the Chancellor, leading property organisations warned housing transactions across the country could fall “off a cliff edge".

New figures from HM Revenue and Customs show home buyers in the city paid around £5m in Stamp Duty Land Tax in the year to March this year from 4,600 transactions worth a total of £705m.

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Nationally, properties sales contributed £12bn in stamp duty last year.

Stamp Duty Land Tax was liable on properties worth over £125,000 – £300,000 for first-time buyers – but in July, the Treasury announced a temporary stamp duty holiday in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – raising the threshold to £500,000 until April 2021.

Groups including the National Association of Estate Agents Propertymark, the Guild of Property Professionals, the Residential Property Surveyors Association and conveyancers Bold Legal Group, want the stamp duty holiday extended by at least six months and an announcement of this before Christmas.

Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, said: “The boom caused by the stamp duty holiday has been hugely beneficial for the housing market, however the stamp duty cliff edge on March 31 could cause thousands of sales to fall at the final hurdle and have a knock-on and drastic effect on the housing market.”

An HM Treasury spokesman said the Government keeps Stamp Duty Land Tax under review and is closely monitoring the market.