Budget 2020: Stamp duty hiked for overseas buyers

The government will go ahead with plans to increase stamp duty for overseas buyers, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today. He said the government will introduce a new stamp duty surcharge of two per cent for foreign buyers to make it easier for domestic buyers as part of a range of measures to tackle the housing crisis. Read more: Want to encourage downsizing and free up the housing market? Reform stamp duty Sunak also announced a £12m multi-year settlement for the affordable homes programme, cut interest rates on local authority lending for social housing by one percentage point. He said it was the “largest cash investment in affordable housing in a decade”.

–– ADVERTISEMENT –– Mary-Anne Bowring, group managing director at residential property consultancy Ringley, said: “An increase stamp duty for overseas buyers will simply put things back to where they were before the Brexit vote and level the playing field for domestic buyers.” However, Jamie Morrison, head of private clients at accountancy firm HW Fisher, said the stamp duty increase will have “little impact on the housing market” “There are still overriding macroeconomic factors that make the UK an attractive place to invest,” he said. Read more: General Election 2019: Tories to up stamp duty for non-UK residents Sunak announced an extra £650m of funding to help rough sleeps into permanent accommodation and a new £1bn fund to remove dangerous cladding from high rise buildings following the 2017 Grenfell fire. He said proposals to reform the UK’s planning rules will be announced tomorrow.