The document summarizes statistics on residential stamp duty land tax (SDLT) in the UK over the past 15-20 years. It finds that: - The total amount of SDLT raised from residential property sales has increased 491% since 1997/98 despite a 42% decline in transactions. - Properties worth £250,000+ account for 86% of SDLT receipts but less than 25% of transactions. If the £250,000 threshold was raised to £500,000, the Treasury would lose approximately £1 billion in receipts. - London properties pay the highest SDLT, with the average payment being over £16,000 in 2012/13 at an effective rate of 3.6

1. Residential SDLT
November 2013
savills.com

2. Headline Numbers – Growth in Receipts
 Over the past 15 years the SDLT take from residential property has risen from £830m to
£4.9bn in 2012/13.
 That is a 491% increase despite the fact that transaction levels in 2012/13 were 42%
down on 15 years ago.
 The average amount of SDLT per property sold has increased by 911% over the same
period to just under £5,300 per property.
 By contrast the average UK house price rose by 169%.

3. Headline Numbers – London and the South East
 In London, the total amount of SDLT raised form residential property has risen by 818%
over 15 years, such that the average SDLT paid on a London house sale in 2012/13 was
over £16,000 at an effective average rate of 3.6%.
 In 2012/13, 41% of all residential SDLT raised came from the purchase of property in
London, up from 26% 15 years ago,.
 In the rest of the South of England the residential SDLT take has risen by over 400%, it
also being affected by an increasing amount of property paying a rate of 3% or above by
virtue of a sale price of over £250,000.

4. Headline Numbers – Distribution by Value
 In the UK over one third of house purchasers do not pay stamp duty. With over 40% of
purchasers paying the 1% rate, over three quarters of transactions contributed 14% of
SDLT revenues.
 That means properties worth £250,000+ account for 86% of SDLT receipts but less than
25% of all transactions – though there is significant regional variation.
 Those in the £250,000 – £500,000 bracket delivered one third of residential SDLT
receipts.
 At the very top end the £1m+ market accounts for 1.3% of all transactions but around 30%
of all residential SDLT.

5. Headline Numbers - Thresholds
 The 3% SDLT charge on property worth £250,000+ was introduced in 2000.
 If the threshold for the 3% charge had been increased in line with house prices it would
now stand at £550,000.
 If the threshold were to increase to £500,000 the Treasury would lose receipts of
approximately £1bn based on 2012 transaction levels (or put another way the Treasury is
benefitting from an additional £1bn a year because of not increasing the threshold in line
with house prices).
 Increasing the threshold would affect around 150,000 transactions in the current market.
 A less adventurous measure of say reducing the tax charge by 1% on properties worth
between £250,000 and £300,000 would forgo revenue of circa £135 million but would only
benefit 50,000 buyers in today’s market (again based on 2012 transaction levels).

6. Basic Statistics
SDLT
£m
SDLT Per
Property
£
House Sales
(Thousands)
House Prices
(Index)
1992/93
280
217
1,291
100
1997/98
830
522
1,588
118
2002/03
3,525
2,062
1,708
219
2007/08
6,680
4,475
1,493
355
2012/13
4,905
5,286
928
319

7. 3000
4000
5000
4,585
4,620
6,680
6,375
7000
8000
2,500
6000
0
-
4,905
4,220
SDLT
3,290
4,040
3,710
3,525
Residential SDLT Take
2,950
2,690
2,145
1,825
2000
1,065
830
675
465
520
465
280
1000
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
UK Residential SDLT statistics
Residential Transactions
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
House
Sales
5 year
-27%
-38%
10 year
+39%
-46%
15 year
+491%
-42%
20 year
+1,652%
-28%

8. 3,175
3,744
5000
4,475
5,286
6000
0
2012-13
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
3,668
3,706
4,582
4,598
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
SDLT
per
house
sale
House
Price
5 year
+18%
-10%
10 year
2006-07
2,389
4000
2005-06
2004-05
3000
2,274
2,063
1,613
1,332
1,116
SDLT take per property
2003-04
2002-03
2001-02
690
523
467
358
374
2000
2000-01
1999-00
1998-99
1997-98
1996-97
1995-96
1994-95
342
217
1000
1993-94
1992-93
UK Residential SDLT Statistics
Nationwide House Price Index
+156%
+45%
15 year
+911%
+169%
20 year
+2,337%
+219%

9. By region
SDLT £m
London South East
East of
England
South
West
West Mids East Mids
North
West
North East
Y and H
Wales
Scotland
N Ireland
Scotland
and N
Ireland
1997-98
220
190
85
75
45
35
45
15
35
20
70
2002-03
945
810
345
325
185
140
205
45
135
65
325
2007-08
1,895
1,505
700
665
320
255
355
95
260
130
340
160
500
2012-13
2,020
1,080
455
405
175
135
185
50
145
70
170
15
185
Change
London South East
East of
England
South
West
West Mids East Mids
North
West
North East
Y and H
Wales
Scotland
N Ireland
Scotland
and N
Ireland
5 year
7%
-28%
-35%
-39%
-45%
-47%
-48%
-47%
-44%
-46%
-50%
-91%
-63%
10 year
114%
33%
32%
25%
-5%
-4%
-10%
11%
7%
8%
N/A
N/A
-43%
15 year
818%
468%
435%
440%
289%
286%
311%
233%
314%
250%
N/A
N/A
164%

10. Distribution by Region
% of UK
Receipts
London South East
East of
England
South
West
West Mids East Mids
North
West
North East
Y and H
Wales
Scotland
N Ireland
Scotland
and N
Ireland
1997-98
26%
23%
10%
9%
5%
4%
5%
2%
4%
2%
8%
2002-03
27%
23%
10%
9%
5%
4%
6%
1%
4%
2%
9%
2007-08
28%
23%
10%
10%
5%
4%
5%
1%
4%
2%
5%
2%
7%
2012-13
41%
22%
9%
8%
4%
3%
4%
1%
3%
1%
3%
0%
4%

11. Below £125k
Transactions
2012
Value of Sales
2012
% of SDLT
% of
Transactions
% of Value
321
SDLT 2012/13
28,241
0.0%
34.4%
13.1%
125k - 250k
690
397
73,139
14.1%
42.6%
34.1%
250k - 500k
1,675
162
56,692
34.1%
17.4%
26.4%
500k - 1m
1,085
40
27,679
22.1%
4.3%
12.9%
£1m-£2m
585
9
12,278
11.9%
1.0%
5.7%
£2m+
870
3
16,749
17.7%
0.3%
7.8%
Total
4,905
932
214,778
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%

12. Average Charge 2012/13
Average Effective Rate
Average per dwelling
Average per dwelling
Average Effective Rate
LONDON
3.6%
16,227
4.0%
18,000
SOUTH EAST
2.6%
7,280
3.5%
16,000
UK
2.3%
5,283
3.0%
EAST
2.0%
4,681
14,000
12,000
2.5%
SOUTH WEST
1.9%
4,326
WEST MIDS
1.4%
2,439
SCOTLAND
1.4%
2,316
1.5%
EAST MIDS
1.2%
2,043
1.0%
Y&H
1.3%
2,014
0.5%
2,000
NORTH WEST
1.2%
1,971
0.0%
-
10,000
2.0%
WALES
1.2%
1,737
NORTH EAST
1.1%
1,509
N IRELAND
0.8%
950
8,000
6,000
4,000