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Annual Stamp Taxes Statistics

2018-2019

Contact info: stamptaxes.statistics@hmrc.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/stamp-duties-statistics

Charles Sharry 03000 589 605 Paul D’Mello: 03000 517 149 Media: 03000 585 024

Commentary

About this release

This publication presents the annual totals and breakdowns of stamp taxes collected for the two main

categories of 'Land and property' Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and 'Stocks and shares and other

liable securities' Stamp Duty Reserve Tax and Stamp Duty (SDRT and SD). SDLT data is split by

transaction type, property type, region, price band and buyer type, including transactions paying the

higher rates on additional dwellings (HRAD), and those claiming the first time buyers’ relief (FTBR).

Changes to the publication

This publication contains new data for 2018-19 and new regional graphs showing the percentage of

transactions paying HRAD and FTBR and a new table showing FTBR by Parliamentary constituency.

Caution should be taken when comparing SDLT between 2017-18 and 2018-19 because of the

effect of the first full year of FTBR and the devolution of SDLT to Wales.

Total stamp taxes receipts decreased by 5% to £15,560 million between 2017-18 and 2018-19. However, if we discount the effect of FTBR and devolution to Wales the fall would be less than 2%.

Land and property stamp taxes (SDLT) decreased by 7% to £11,940 million. However, if FTBR and the devolution to Wales were discounted, the fall would be around 3%.

Stamp taxes on shares (SDRT and SD) increased by 3% to £3,620 million.

SDLT receipts in England were £11,850 million, a decrease of £715 million (6%) compared with 2017-18. Whilst in Northern Ireland they decreased by £5m (6%) to £80 million. On a regional basis London accounted for the most SDLT revenue (£4,545 million; 38% of total SDLT receipts).

Properties valued at £250,000 or less accounted for 59% of all transactions, and 11% of the total SDLT receipts, whilst properties over £1 million accounted for nearly 3% of transactions and over 45% of total SDLT receipts.

There were 230,600 higher rates on additional dwellings (HRAD) transactions in 2018-19, a decrease of 9% (21,900) from 2017-18. Whilst HRAD receipts were £3,810 million in 2018-19, a decrease of 6% (£250 million) from 2017-18.

218,900 transactions benefited from first time buyers’ relief (FTBR) in 2018-19, with an estimated £521 million relieved in total. 2018-19 was the first full tax year of FTBR claims.

Publication info:

Theme: The economy

Released: 1 October 2019

Next release: Autumn 2020

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For key definitions, guidance and references see

the published tables and the Methodology and

Quality Report.

Key Statistics

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 2

Stamp taxes receipts, 2004-05 to 2018-19

All stamps transactions

Land and property

Chart 1A: Land and property receipts fall in 2018-19

Stamp taxes on land & property (excluding new leases) showed continuous year-on-

year rises between 2004-05 and 2007-08. There was a sharp downturn in the property

market in 2008-09 coinciding with the credit crunch and economic downturn. Since

then, SDLT receipts have shown a year on year growth in receipts until 2017-18. The

decline between 2017-18 and 2018-19 can be attributed to this being the first full year

of first time buyers’ relief (FTBR), devolution of land transaction taxation to Wales, and

other changes in the property market. If we discounted these the drop in receipts would

be much lower (see page 1 for details).

Land and property stamp taxes (SDLT) receipts decreased by 7% to £11,940 million between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Stamp taxes on shares (SDRT and SD) increased by 3% to £3,620 million from £3,520 million in 2017-18.

Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (SDRT) receipts increased by 2% to £2,865 million between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Stamp Duty (SD) receipts increased by 6% to £755 million between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 3

Stamp taxes receipts, 2004-05 to 2018-19

Stocks and shares and other liable securities

Chart 1B: Both Stamp Duty Reserve Tax and Other (Stamp Duty) receipts have

increased in 2018-19

Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (SDRT) receipts showed continuous year-on-year rises up to

2007-08. In 2008-09 the economic downturn led to steep reductions in receipts

recorded that year, with SDRT receipts dropping by 20%. SDRT then showed a year

on year decline until 2013-14 when it rose significantly, and has seen fairly stable

growth since then. Other (Stamp Duty) receipts showed a generally increasing trend

from 2009-10 to their highest level in 2016-17, followed by a sharp 29% decrease in

2017-18. In 2018-19 SDRT receipts rose by 2% (£55 million) and Other (Stamp Duty)

rose by 6% (£45 million) when compared to the previous Financial year.

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 4

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) transactions and receipts by property

type

Transactions by property type

Chart 2A: Trends in property transaction counts by property type, 2008-09 to

2018-19 (Index: 2008-09 = 100)

Both residential and non-residential transactions have generally increased over time until

this year, although non-residential transactions have been more flat, unlike the more

volatile residential transactions. More specifically, residential transactions have increased

until 2014-15 and then started a slow but steady decline (with the exception of a slight

bump in 2017-18).

The decrease in SDLT transactions between 2017-18 and 2018-19 coincides with the

devolution of SDLT to Wales. The announcement at Autumn Statement in 2015 of the

introduction of the Additional Properties rates in April 2016 caused changes in taxpayer

behaviour, where purchases were brought forward into the first quarter of 2016 so that

they would not be liable for the higher rates. Caution is therefore advised when making

comparisons in transaction counts between years.

Residential SDLT receipts decreased by 10% (£905 million) to £8,370 million

between 2017-18 and 2018-19. The decrease in receipts is partly due to first

time buyers’ relief, devolution of SDLT to Wales, as well as the fall in

transactions over £1 million, dropping by 8% since last year.

Residential transactions decreased by 6% (70,000) to 1.036 million residential

transactions between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

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Non-residential receipts decreased by 2% (£60 million) to £3,570 million

between 2017-18 and 2018-19. Again this will be effected by devolution of

SDLT to Wales.

Non-residential transactions decreased by 5% (6,000) to 115,000 non-

residential transactions between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 5

SDLT receipts by property type

Chart 2B: Residential receipts have fallen this year

SDLT receipts for both residential and non-residential transactions have generally

increased over time, until this year. Receipts are affected by a number of factors including

property price inflation, market activity (transaction numbers) and a series of changes to

the tax itself (see page 15 for a summary of the major changes in recent years).

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 6

SDLT transactions and receipts by region

99.2% of SDLT revenue in 2018-19 came from transactions in England (£11,850 million).

Northern Ireland accounted for 0.7% (£80 million).

Later filers from Wales accounted for the remaining 0.1% (£15 million).

Transactions in London contributed the most SDLT revenue (£4,545 million; 38% of total receipts).

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Chart 3A: Percentage change in SDLT receipts from last year. Most of the

regions show decreases except for East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside.

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 7

SDLT transactions and receipts by regions in England

The values reported above will have been influenced by 2018-19 being the first full year

of FTBR Claims.

Despite still having the largest value for SDLT receipts. London has also seen the

steepest dip in the absolute value of SDLT receipts over the last year (£315 million).

Most of the other regions (excluding Yorkshire & Humber and the East Midlands) have

also shown decline in SDLT receipts although this decline has been much smaller. This

can be attributed to the contrasting conditions in the London housing market compared

with the rest of the country and different rates of price inflation.

SDLT receipts in England decreased by 6% (£715 million) between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The steepest percentage fall was in the East of England, by 9% (£120 million).

The largest percentage rise was in the East Midlands, by 4% (£20 million).

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Chart 3B: English SDLT receipts continue to be largest in London and the South

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 8

Annual change in SDLT transactions and receipts by property type

and region

Chart 3C: Since 2017-18 there has been a fall in the majority of regions for both

residential and non-residential receipts.

Residential receipts have fallen everywhere except Northern Ireland. Non-residential

receipts are more mixed, with growth in receipts in East Midlands, Yorkshire and The

Humber, London, South East and South West.

Chart 3D: Since 2017-18 there has been a decline in the majority of regions for

both residential and non residential transactions.

London and the South East, saw the biggest annual decrease in the number of

residential transactions in 2018-19, followed by East of England, South West and East

Midlands, with the remaining regions showing increases. The non-residential market is

also mixed, with growth in the North West, South West, West Midlands and Northern

Ireland.

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 9

SDLT receipts by local authority and parliamentary constituency

Table 4A: Westminster Local Authority accounts for over 6% of all SDLT receipts in 2018-19.

Table 4B: Cities of London & Westminster Parliamentary Constituency accounts for nearly 6% of all SDLT receipts in 2018-19

The local authorities with the highest SDLT receipts are mostly in London,

however some local authorities outside London have high receipts for non-

residential receipts.

Westminster local authority had the highest SDLT receipts from residential

transactions (£488 million), representing 5.8% of all residential SDLT receipts.

The parliamentary constituency with the largest receipts for residential SDLT

was Cities of London and Westminster (£397 million) representing 4.7% of

residential SDLT receipts.

Westminster local authority had the highest SDLT receipts from non-residential

transactions (£270 million), representing 7.6% of all non-residential SDLT

receipts. The parliamentary constituency that generated the most non-

residential receipts was Cities of London and Westminster (£290 million)

representing 8.1% of non-residential SDLT receipts.

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 10

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) transactions and receipts by price band

Chart 5: SDLT transactions and receipts by price band, 2008-09 and 2018-19*

* Purchases of residential properties over £500k by corporate bodies paying the 15% SDLT rate are

excluded from these charts.

These charts reflect the growth in prices over time in both the residential and non-

residential markets. The proportion of properties priced below £250,000 is falling year-

on-year again, but the devolution of SDLT to Wales had some impact in this price band

in 2018-19. The charts also show how changes to the structure of SDLT over time have

resulted in a larger share of receipts coming from the highest priced properties.

There are marked price differences between regions, with 9% of residential

transactions in London priced above £1 million, and less than 1% of transactions in

Northern Ireland in this price band. Similarly on the non-residential side, 15% of London

transactions are priced over £1 million, with only 6% for Northern Ireland transactions in

this price band.

Total SDLT transactions where the value of the property was £250,000 or

less accounted for 59% of transactions, but only 11% of total SDLT

receipts in 2018-19. Properties over £1 million accounted for nearly 3% of

transactions and over 45% of total SDLT receipts.

Residential properties where the value is less than £250,000 accounted

for 9% of residential property receipts and 58% of residential transactions.

Non-residential properties, where the value is above £1 million accounted

for 77% of non-residential property receipts but just 11% of non-

residential transactions.

Residential Non-residential

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 11

SDLT transactions and receipts by buyer type

The majority of residential properties are bought by individuals, and their

share has stayed the same since last year (90%).

The propensity for non-individuals (e.g. public sector bodies, charities etc.)

to purchase residential properties increases with price, so much so that

almost 23% of residential properties over £2 million were purchased by

this type of buyer.

The amount of SDLT from non-natural persons (companies, partnerships

and collective investment schemes) paying the 15% rate of SDLT on

residential transactions has decreased by 33% in the past year to £70m,

from £105 million in 2017-18.

The majority (73%) of non-residential transactions were made by non-

individuals in 2018-19.

Non-individuals continued to account for almost 95% of non-residential

transactions over £2 million in 2018-19.

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HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 12

Higher Rates on Additional Dwellings (HRAD) transactions and receipts

Chart 6: The additional dwellings as a proportion of residential transactions has

remained relatively similar between 2017-18 and 2018-19

The proportion of transactions slightly grew in London but was stagnant or decreasing

by about 1% in all other regions.

The proportion of HRAD receipts increased in London by 4% and in the North West by

3%, and were either stagnant or slightly increasing in other regions.

There were 231,000 additional dwellings transactions in 2018-19, a

decrease of 9% from 2017-18, although if devolution of SDLT to Wales is

taken into account, the decrease is about 3%.

Higher rates on additional dwellings (HRAD) receipts were £3,810 million

in 2018-19, a decrease of 6% (£250 million) from 2017-18. Of this total,

£1,675 million came from the additional 3% element (12% decrease from

2017-18).

Additional dwellings transactions accounted for 22% of residential

transactions and 46% of residential receipts (an increase of 2% from last

year) in 2018-19. First time buyers’ relief (FTBR) is thought to have

influenced this change.

The region with the highest proportion of transactions which were

additional dwellings was London, with 28%. The South East had the

lowest proportion at 19%. This followed a similar pattern to 2017-18.

Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of residential receipts from

HRAD transactions, at 65% (similar to that in 2017-18).

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The figures cited above include transactions involving company purchasers that are no subject to

or are relieved from the higher 15% taxation rate.

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 13

Additional dwellings transactions and receipts by price band

Chart 7: The distribution of residential and additional dwellings transactions

show different behaviour by price band, 2018-19

Additional dwellings follow a slightly different distribution to main rate residential

transactions, with a higher proportion below £250,000 and a higher proportion above

£1 million. This may be a reflection of different types of property investors investing at

the lower and higher ends of the market.

Table 8: The Westminster Local Authority and Westminster Parliamentary

Constituency account for the largest proportion of receipts from higher 3% rate

on additional properties, 2018-19.

62% of additional dwellings transactions were valued below £250,000 in

2018-19, accounting for 24% of residential SDLT transactions and 71% of

residential receipts within this price band. FTBR is thought to have

influenced these changes, making more transactions liable to HRAD.

3% of additional dwellings transactions were valued above £1 million in

2018-19, accounting for 38% of HRAD receipts, and 20% of the 3%

surcharge total receipts.

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 14

First time buyers’ relief (FTBR) transactions

Chart 9:

London has the highest average amount of SDLT relief on FTBR transactions, 2018-19

Table 10: Local authorities with the highest number of FTBR transactions and relief

claimed, 2018-19

218,900 transactions benefited from first time buyers’ relief (FTBR) in

2018-19. A policy change in October 2018 enabled more shared

ownership purchasers to claim the relief.

The total amount of SDLT relieved due to FTBR in 2018-19 was

estimated at £521 million. London and the South East accounted for

£256 million (49%).

19% of all FTBR transactions were in the South East;, While London and

the East of England both accounted for 13%. Of the local authorities,

Birmingham had the highest number of claims and Bristol had the highest

total amount relieved.

£ The mean average amount relieved per transaction was £2,400. London

had the highest average relief at £4,300 and Northern Ireland had the

lowest at £800. This reflects the different house prices in these regions. £

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 15

Background information - recent changes in stamp taxes Changes in Stamp Duty Land Tax

Over the past few years, there have been a number of major tax policy reforms

affecting SDLT receipts. The structure of residential SDLT was subject to major reform

in December 2014 therefore the figure for 2014-15 includes tax collected under both

the new and old systems. Prior to 4 December 2014 varying flat rates of SDLT were

charged on the total consideration (price). Since then, SDLT for residential property is

charged at different rates depending on the portion of the purchase price that falls

within each rate band. The reforms mean that less SDLT was paid on the majority of

residential transactions, with only those at higher prices paying more. A similar change

was introduced for non-residential transactions in April 2016.

The increase in receipts in 2016-17 is associated with the introduction of the higher

rates of SDLT charged on additional residential properties. This reform added 3

percentage points to the SDLT rate for purchasers who already own residential

property.

First time buyers’ relief (FTBR) was introduced in November 2017, which means that

first time buyers buying properties valued less than £300,000 pay no SDLT and those

buying properties valued between £300,000 and £500,000 pay £5,000 less than

standard rates.

In April 2015, SDLT in Scotland was devolved to the Scottish Government and is now

known as Land and Buildings Transactions Tax. Figures for SDLT from 2015-16

onwards do not include any receipts from Scotland and are therefore not directly

comparable with previous years. The fall in SDLT receipts in 2015-16 compared with

2014-15 is due to both the absence of receipts from Scotland and the fact that 2015-16

was the first full financial year of the new SDLT regime.

SDLT was devolved to Wales in April 2018, so this publication no longer includes

Welsh transactions that were completed from Q2 2018 onwards. However, a small

number of Welsh transactions were filed after April 2018, thus they are reflected in

transactions and receipts in the post-devolution period. The Welsh Revenue Authority

publishes its own statistics on its new Land Transactions Tax which has replaced

SDLT.

Changes in ‘Other (Stamp Duty)’

Stamp Duty receipts rarely follow the same trend as SDRT. The increases in ‘Other

(Stamp Duty)’ between 2015-16 and 2016-17 were in large part due to legislative

changes for transfer schemes of arrangement and the resulting tax status. More

information can be found via this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stamp-duty-and-stamp-duty-reserve

-tax-transfer-schemes-of-arrangement

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 16

Annex - Additional Maps

London continues to have the highest percentage of HRAD transactions (28%) followed

by 25% for both Northern Ireland and the North West. Whilst the South East has the

lowest percentage of HRAD transactions (19%) followed closely by the East of England

and the South West at 20%.

Map 1: Percentage of HRAD transactions by region

Percentage of transactions

that are HRAD

Missing data

18% to 21%

21% to 24%

24% to 27%

27% to 30%

HMRC Annual Stamp Tax Statistics, 2018-19 17

The East of England has the highest percentage (25%) of claimants of First time buyers’

relief. Followed by London (24%). Whilst the North East has the lowest percentage of

transactions claiming First Time Buyers relief (14%). Closely followed by Yorkshire &

Humberside (16%) and then by Northern Ireland (17%) and the North West (18%).

Map 2: Percentage of claimants of first time buyers’ relief by region

Percentage of transactions

that are FTBR

Missing data

15% to 18%

18% to 21%

21% to 24%

24% to 27%