The Government’s autumn spending review had a sting in the tail for anyone thinking of getting into the buy-to-let business.
The Chancellor, George Osbourne, announced a 3% increase in stamp duty on buy-to-let properties from next April.
This will add a big chunk to the bill for anyone buying a property for that purpose and might put an end to the recent mini boom in the buy-to-let market.
That might not be the case, of course. With prices still going up, investing in property is still going to look attractive and probably always will.
Another possible side effect could be that with would-be landlords dropping out of the market, there might be more property out there for other buyers – time will tell.
There’s likely to be quite a lot of activity in the property market whilst all of this pans out. We would expect a busy few months and then a cooling off period around April when the new Stamp Duty rules kick in.
Whatever happens, it is obvious that if you are thinking of going down the buy-to-let route, then the time to do so is now.
It’s quite a complicated path to take and as with all mortgages these days, there are lots of different products with lots of different rates and conditions on the market.