Land Transaction Tax statistics: February 2023

Our monthly releases are published as data tables on this page and datasets on the StatsWales website.

They include monthly numbers on:

• transactions and tax due
• transactions by type
• transactions and tax due by tax band
• refunds for higher rates residential transactions

Please note:

• monthly statistics are data-only updates with no commentary
• quarterly statistics include the latest statistical commentary
• annual statistics present a greater level of detail, including analysis within Wales and analysis using the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

Monthly, quarterly and annual statistics can be found on the Land Transaction Tax series page.

Figure 1: Weekly number of transactions submitted to the WRA

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[Note 1] Please note that this chart includes a small number of transactions effective in March 2023.

The line chart shows the weekly number of transactions submitted to the WRA had a sharp peak in June 2021 and a sharp drop during holidays in December 2021 and December 2022. Generally, the weekly numbers of transactions submitted since April 2022 were slightly lower than the same week in the previous year, with a greater difference seen in the past two months.

Comparisons over time

Care should be taken with any comparisons over time which involve data from spring 2020 to summer 2021. This is due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes to LTT rates.

A national lockdown on 23 March 2020 resulted in the housing market being mainly closed from this date until 22 June 2020 when it partially re-opened. The market was re-opened more fully on 27 July, to coincide with a change in LTT rates effective until 30 June 2021. There is evidence some purchasers may have brought their transactions forward to June 2021 to benefit from the temporary tax reduction.

There were some changes to LTT rates effective from 22 December 2020. Non-residential transactions and higher rates residential transactions were affected.

The main residential rates and bands for Land Transaction changed for transactions effective from 10 October 2022. We will present analysis of the impact of these changes in our next quarterly release.

Information on all these changes to LTT rates can be read at:

• Changes to Land Transaction Tax nil rate threshold
• Land Transaction Tax – extension of the temporary tax reduction period
• Changes to the rates and bands of Land Transaction Tax
• Changes to main residential rates and bands for Land Transaction Tax