Estate agents’ hours of chaos as buyers beat tax
ESTATE agents dealing in exclusive properties had a manic 12 hours as clients tried to force through sales before the stamp duty change at midnight.
Gary Hersham, a Mayfair estate agent
One buyer moved quickly to save more than £1.4million late on Wednesday.
George Osborne’s shake-up took the market by surprise.
Anyone buying a home for more than £937,000 would be paying extra stamp duty while anyone spending above £1.5million faced a 12 per cent duty.
A house in Surrey sold for £30million at 11.45pm, according to one report.
The buyer will pay £2.1 million in tax but had the deal been sealed 15 minutes later it would have cost £3.5 million.
Mark Pollack, director of Aston Chase, said his team completed three multimillion pound deals before midnight.
“Electorally it is a masterstroke but it is also an own goal,” he said.
“The upper end of the market has seen a fall in sales.”