Shock extra buy to let stamp duty; house building pro...

George Osborne has announced a shock additional 3.0 per cent stamp duty on second homes and buy to let properties.

Details are still being released by the Treasury but in his Autumn Statement, Osborne announced that this additional tax would raise at least £1 billion to fund additional house building across the UK.

In the rest of the Autumn Statement he has promised:

- £2.3 billion to be paid directly to developers to build starter homes for sale to first time buyers who will receive 20 per cent discounts. These homes will be capped at £450,000 in London and £250,000 elsewhere;

- another £4 billion will help build 135,000 so-called ‘Help to Buy: Shared Ownership’ homes for households earning less than £80,000 across the UK or £90,000 within Greater London;

- some £200m to help create 10,000 new homes to let that tenants can live in for five years at sub-market rents while they save for a deposit. They will then be given the ‘first right’ to buy the home;

- an additional £400m to help build 8,000 specialist homes for older people or those with disabilities.

Osborne says five housing associations will from midnight tonight pilot the controversial Right To Buy programme.

Under digital infrastructure announcements regarding HM Revenue and Customs, it now appears likely that those who are subject to capital gains tax when they sell a second or investment property may by 2019 have to pay within 30 days of the completed sale - a much shorter timescale than today.

The additional paperwork released by the Chancellor at the end of his statement is expected to contain some consumer-focussed improvements to the mortgage system - chiefly the introduction of a new tariff system which spells out mortgage fees in a standardised format.