Revenues and sales volumes of residential properties in Scotland increased 20%.

These figures reflect a great improvement for the market.

Revenue and sales volumes for residential properties in Scotland have risen more than 20% in the past six months, according to an analysis of the latest Scottish government data by UK-wide rental company Apropos.

The data found that sales of completed properties increased 23.2% and government revenue increased 20.4% between September 2020 and February 2021 compared to the same period last year.

Sales volume covering the six-month period increased from 51,030 to 62,850, while land and building transaction tax (LBTT) revenue increased from £208.2 million to £250.7 million.

“The Scottish government should be more responsible on this issue.”

David Alexander, Deputy Executive Director of Apropos, said: “September was the first month to show the impact of raising the LBTT threshold and this data highlights the success of this policy over the next six months in the market going live. through what might otherwise have been quite a dying period.

“The four-month period from September to October showed the highest volume of completed transactions since LBTT started and the highest revenue received by the Scottish government.”

“There is no doubt that these record transaction and revenue figures would have continued if the threshold to pay LBTT had continued longer. Individual home buyers have benefited from this policy and the Scottish government has benefited from an additional £ 42.5 million that it would not otherwise have received.”

“The end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March is clearly already having an impact on sales (both the January and February figures are almost 50% lower than December) and you would expect the sales figures to March to be static and then a sudden drop in volumes and the consequent slump in Scottish government revenue in April and beyond.”

“Despite broad support from home buyers and the property market, the Scottish government remains uncompromising in maintaining a policy that directly benefits people and raises essential funds for their coffers at this difficult time for the economy.”

“Despite this mutually beneficial tax cut, the Scottish government appears unwilling to maintain a popular and successful policy despite the Westminster government maintaining its stamp tax savings for a further six months. We will see how much of a disadvantage this is for the Scottish home buyer and the property market in general in the coming months.”

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