“Chancellor George Osborne might have kept his promise of coming “down like a tonne of bricks” on those who have avoided paying stamp duty by closing the tax loophole in today’s Budget but this won’t deter foreign nationals from buying property in UK.

 

The UK is an extremely attractive place to buy property given the Pound’s weakness in recent years. In fact the UK is an all round favourite choice due to our dominant financial centre, superb sporting and cultural activities, some of the World’s best restaurants and top drawer educational choices.

 

Since the start of 2012, 35% of our business has been selling houses to overseas buyers and of those, 65% were from Eastern Europe (Russian, Ukraine & Kazakhstan).

 

Barton Wyatt have sold properties on the exclusive Wentworth Estate and St Georges Hill, Weybridge, both of which are attractive to wealthy buyers. Foreigners pay an average of £8m for a house and some did take advantage of the loophole using an offshore company as a purchase vehicle however at this price point, I doubt the extra 5% stamp duty moving forward would put off a serious buyer.

 

In terms of property types, new homes is the preferred purchase by foreign buyers. Recently one luxury developer Millgate Homes sold ‘September House’ on Wentworth for £6.25m after a bidding war broke out between two Russian families.

 

The problem we face in the Home Counties is not the closure of the stamp duty loophole but a dwindling stock of new properties of a high enough calibre which will inevitably lead to price rises.”

 

For more information or immediate bespoke comment from James please contact Barton Wyatt on 00 44 1344 843 000 or visit www.bartonwyatt.co.uk.