Britain’s Tories plan tax hike for foreign homebuyers

Conservatives said it would levy an additional 3% surcharge on the country’s stamp duty land tax for overseas buyers

The party estimates the tax will raise up to US$155 million a year, which it says will help fund programmes to tackle rough sleeping

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:05pm, 22 Nov 2019Updated: 9:08pm, 22 Nov 2019

Britain’s Conservatives said on Friday they will make foreign individuals and companies pay more tax on residential property purchases if they win next month’s election.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party said it would levy an additional three per cent surcharge on the country’s stamp duty land tax for buyers who are not tax residents in Britain.

UK residents and foreign buyers currently pay the same level of stamp duty, which is applied at various rates that rise with the value of the transaction.

There has been sustained criticism of the level of foreign ownership of properties in Britain, primarily in London, despite drops since the 2016 Brexit referendum amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

There are no official statistics on the sales of residential property to overseas buyers, but studies show they have accounted for as much as a third of purchases in parts of central London in recent years.

Meanwhile, a 2017 York University report showed that 13 per cent of new homes across the capital were bought by non-residents in 2014-16.