CML - Stamp duty rise caused a rush of sales

Residential landlords in the UK could be among those who took advantage of the increased stamp duty threshold before the December 31st deadline.

New data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revealed that 55 per cent of all home loans approved in December 2009 were for properties valued under £175,000.

This was evidence of a rush to beat the end of the stamp duty holiday, which saw the threshold revert back to £125,000 on January 1st 2010.

According to the report, 21,500 properties valued between £125,000 and £175,000 were bought in December.

This compared to 13,800 in the previous month.

According to the CML, "this clearly indicates a rush to complete purchases before January, when stamp duty would have added an additional 1 per cent of the purchase price onto the transaction costs."

The report also revealed that £8.5 billion worth of house purchase loans were approved in December, compared to £7.1 billion in November and £4.4 billion in December 2008.

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