Welsh Conservatives have – a week after calling on the Welsh Labour-led Government to introduce one – welcomed, with caveats, the announcement today of a land transaction tax (LTT) ‘holiday’.
Nick Ramsay MS – the Shadow Minister for Finance – said:
“We launched a petition last week and called on the Welsh Labour-led Government to take immediate action to kickstart the housing market in Wales, and it has listened to us.
“It’s a lifeline for the struggling housing market, and a vital move to get Wales moving again after the damage caused to the economy by the pandemic.
“However, if seems like deliberate awkwardness on the part of the Finance Minister to have capped the LTT holiday at properties valued £250,000 or less to zero. Sadly this will do very little to kickstart the housing market in Wales or to tempt buyers near the border to buy a property here rather than in England, where there is zero stamp duty on properties valued up to £500,000.”
Also, why wait nearly a fortnight to introduce it on July 27? The market and the economy need help now, so this holiday should be introduced from today.”
The LTT holiday will run until March 31, 2021. Properties in Wales below £180,000 are exempt from LTT.