Stamp duty to jump to 7% for £2m homes

The Chancellor George Osborne will today raise stamp duty on the country's highest priced properties as part of a tax raid on the wealthy.

The top-end property market is booming at present, with a huge surge in the amount of homes sold so far this year compared to 2011. New figures have revealed sales of homes valued at £5m or more in London have jumped by 98% this year, to £723m. According to the Financial Times, which cited officials involved in the Budget, Osborne will today try to capture some of that market, with a new 7% stamp duty on sales of property worth more than £2m. The move, which would appease those who are angry at the expected decision to cut the 50p tax rate to 45p, takes the stamp duty up significan...