New data published on Land Transaction Tax across Wales

The statistical release covers the period from April 2021 to March 2022 and presents data by geographical area; including local authority, and constituency level data, and by transaction type.

At a national level, the main data highlights of the release, include:

• a total of 68,810 transactions for LTT
• £414.3 million tax due for sales and leases of property and land in Wales
• £283.7 million tax due for residential transactions, including £103.9 million additional revenue raised from higher rates
• £12.8 million higher rate refunds. Refunds have already been subtracted off the figures above for tax due
• £130.6 million tax due for non-residential transactions

At a local authority level, the data highlight some variations for residential and non-residential transactions. For example, higher rate transactions, as a percentage of all residential transactions, varied between 15% in Monmouthshire and 37% in Gwynedd.

There are multiple reasons why the higher rates of residential tax could be charged under LTT, including:

• the purchase of buy-to-let properties
• second homes or holiday homes
• bridging between two properties, and
• purchases by companies, such as social housing providers

Due to the way the WRA administers LTT, the tax authority cannot provide breakdowns for each area where the higher rates of LTT could be charged; this includes second homes transactions.

Dyfed Alsop, Chief Executive of the WRA, said:

“We’re pleased to have published our latest annual LTT statistics, covering the final operating year of our Corporate Plan for 2019 to 2022.

“Despite the challenges of coronavirus (COVID-19), we’ve reported that we’ve raised more than £400 million in tax revenue in the last financial year to support public services, such as the NHS and schools, in communities across Wales.

“We’re committed to making our data public information that anyone can use. We’ll continue to use these data, along with our operational knowledge from managing LTT, to work with wider Welsh Government to support the development of future Welsh taxes.”

Adam Al-Nuaimi, Head of Data and Analysis for the WRA, said:

“We’re delighted that our statistics were designated as National Statistics earlier this year, demonstrating that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value.

“There’s been a strong recovery in residential transactions and revenues since the initial impact of COVID-19 in 2020. The increases in residential revenues during 2021 to 2022 have largely been driven by increases in property values, and to a lesser extent, by the 1% increase to all higher rate bands introduced in December 2020.

“Non-residential revenues have also seen a strong recovery since summer 2020, resulting in record annual revenue during 2021 to 2022. It’s possible that a changing pattern of transactions during the COVID-19 recovery is contributing to this trend, and we’ll continue monitoring this in future.”

The WRA has produced an updated explainer on using local area statistics and when and why higher rates of LTT apply.