The chancellor announced plans to raise revenue from non-UK residents in the Budget.
Rishi Sunak said that money raised from a 2% non-UK resident Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge will be used to help fund policies to reduce rough sleeping in England.
Chris Sykes, mortgage consultant at Private Finance, said: “It’s no surprise in the circumstances surrounding today’s Budget that much-needed reform to stamp duty land tax has been parked for now, other than the planned surcharge for non-UK residents.
“It’s welcome to see confirmation that the extra funds this will deliver from April next year will go towards tackling rough sleeping across the country. In the meantime, it remains to be seen what impact the surcharge will have on buyer behaviour over the next 12 months, especially given the fragile state of the economy.
“The April 2016 stamp duty surcharge for landlords and second home buyers prompted a stampede of purchasers seeking to beat the deadline to grasp lower rates before they disappeared. This time around, the changes will affect a smaller demographic and it will be harder to isolate the impact at a time when the UK’s broader relationship with international partners is in flux. International interest in UK property has been on the rise since December’s election, and the looming surcharge may add to the incentive for overseas investors to pursue purchases sooner rather than later.
“Meanwhile, on the domestic front, any mortgage borrowers on tracker products linked to the Bank of England base rate will take heart from this morning’s rate cut in these uncertain times. Lenders will largely have already taken a potential rate cut into account, so while there may yet be downwards movement in product pricing in the weeks to come, it may not be as much as some customers would like or hope for.”
