Tax holiday for homebuyers in Wales

14 July 2020

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The Welsh Government has introduced a temporary tax break for homebuyers in Wales. People will not pay tax on houses priced up to a threshold of £250,000 from Monday 27th July until 31st March 2021. The WG Finance Minister, Rebeca Evans said that this would release around 80% of homebuyers from liability to the main rates of land transaction tax, averaging a reduction of £2,450 per transaction.

The changes reflect the difference in average house prices in Wales, which are considerably lower than in England where the threshold was last week increased to £500,000.

Robert Evans, Associate Director with Development Land at Cooke & Arkwright said, “We are glad to see the Welsh Government take this move in light of last week’s announcement by the Chancellor, albeit this is a package more relevant to Wales, as you would expect.                                                                                                                                                

“Hopefully it will provide a stimulus to the housing market and help to drive the progress of large housing projects such as our scheme at Plasdŵr.  House sales are essential to give developers the confidence to push on and the development of new housing will be key to the economic recovery.”

In Wales, the tax reduction will not apply to purchases on additional properties, including buy-to-let and second homes.

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Cooke & Arkwright have been providing rating valuation advice to The Welsh Rugby Union Limited (“WRU”) and Millennium Stadium plc for many years. They were recently successful in achieving substantial reductions in the assessments of the Millennium Stadium, covering both the 2005 and 2010 rating list. These negotiated reductions yielded savings of c.£3.5m which, crucially, allows the WRU to re-invest in rugby throughout Wales. They advise the WRU across the group portfolio including the National Centre of Excellence in the Vale of Glamorgan. The valuation issues across the WRU portfolio are complex requiring a high level of understanding of the funding and finances of professional sport in Wales. Cooke & Arkwright’s experience and understanding of these issues and application to the rating valuation have yielded these substantial negotiated reductions. The WRU and the Millennium Stadium entrust our work to organisations with the required levels in experience and expertise in dealing with these complex issues. I am glad to say we have this expertise in Wales. I would have no hesitation in recommending ratepayers making use of this Welsh based expertise.

The Welsh Rugby Union Limited, Welsh Rugby Union Group