Published 19th March 2025
"A £5mn house purchased by an overseas buyer would attract SDLT at 12.2 per cent effective rate, or £611,250, points out Charles Curran, principal at Maskells estate agents. As an additional home, the tax would be £861,250. “If they instead rent a £5mn house at £17,000 a month (£204,000 per annum), this would allow them to remain liquid — keeping the £5.6mn in the bank and generating £240,000 gross income [at 4.3 per cent] towards paying rent — with no upkeep costs.”
Letting agents seeing a busier winter than usual — before the end-of-financial-year company restructures and corporate relocation deals — attribute the change to would-be buyers waiting for prices to drop, or for certainty on the FIG regime, starting on April 6.
“People want tax certainty before they buy. If someone is bringing £20mn into the country they want to know how much that will cost them,” says Curran."