The introduction of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) last year ago was designed to make buying a home in the lower to mid prices range more affordable – and having had time to assess its impact, the evidence a year down the line shows the new tax has led to a whopping 11 per cent increase in sales.
According to the latest Your Move/Acadata House Price Index, there were 104,344 houses sold in the last year compared to 93,601 sales the previous year.
Christine Campbell, Your Move Managing Director in Scotland, said: “These figures confirm that lower purchase taxes for property can significantly boost activity in the housing market, while also allowing first time buyers to get a foot on the ladder. The Scottish Government should consider lifting the LBTT bands higher if they want to build on the foundations of this policy in order to support Scotland’s fragile property and construction sector.
“However, house prices are still down 7.8 per cent year-on-year in April, with a typical home in Scotland now worth £170,667. In part, this drop in property values was caused by a spike in high value sales before LBTT was introduced, but today’s market hasn’t regained those losses yet.”
Figures for each local authority reveal East Renfrewshire now has the highest average house price in Scotland (£249,238 in April, albeit a drop of 1.8 per cent year-on-year), which puts Edinburgh City in second place at £247,922.
Aberdeen City takes the biggest year-on-year hit with a 19.9 per cent decrease in average value, down to £199,133 in April 2016 compared to £248,707 the previous year.
Source:heraldscotland