Research by Kensington in the two weeks leading up to today’s emergency Budget revealed that 46% of brokers said capping CGT lower than income tax reduced the impact that higher CGT rates may have had on buy-to-let.
Today, Chancellor George Osborne announced that CGT will rise from 18% to 28% from midnight tonight.
However, 41% called for the introduction of taper relief, which the Chancellor said he had rejected due to the complexity and costs involved.
Just 6% of those surveyed said the Chancellor should treat buy-to-let investments as business assets, while 4% thought the best option was too introduce increased CGT rates gradually over a number of years.
Charles Morley, head of sales and product development at Kensington, said: “Our research suggests that the route chosen by Osborne is the most popular option among mortgage intermediaries and we are confident that today’s announcement will have minimal, if any, lasting impact on the buy-to-let market.
“This is important because, with a growing population and difficult outlook for first-time buyers, the strain on the private rental sector will only increase and we need to encourage landlords to build and maintain portfolios for the long term so that tenants continue to have a choice of good quality, affordable rental accommodation to meet their housing requirements.”
