Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce new tax incentives in their next budget to support the UK housing market.

The Government has already made substantial reforms to the taxation of housing. At Autumn Statement 2014 the Government reformed SDLT on residential properties, cutting the tax for 98 per cent of buyers who pay it, unless they are purchasing additional property. At Autumn Budget 2017 the Government went further and introduced an SDLT first-time buyer relief that means that 80 per cent of first-time buyers will not pay SDLT, and 95 per cent of first-time buyers who pay SDLT will benefit from the change.

At the last election the Government committed to introduce an SDLT surcharge on non-UK residents purchasing residential property in England and Northern Ireland. This aims to help control house price inflation and the money raised will be used to tackle rough sleeping.

The Government will announce further updates on all tax measures at the Budget, to be held on 11 March.