Tax changes are set to shake things up for those buying homes in Wales next year as announced by Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford.

The Welsh Government have announced that tax changes set to come in in April 2018 will mean that those buying a home in Wales for less than £180,000 will not have to pay any tax. This change is set to replace current stamp duty and the starting threshold for land transactional tax is set to increase from the current £150,000 to £180, 000. Under this change, the Welsh Government states “no one will pay more tax under the changes announced today compared to the land transaction tax rates which were announced at the time of the draft Budget in October”.

How will this influence first-time buyers?

The Welsh Government announced that this change means “around 80% of first-time buyers in Wales will pay no tax – the same proportion which will benefit from the Chancellor’s first time buyer stamp duty land tax relief in England”.

How will this influence the “average homebuyer”?

These changes also mean that the average homebuyer in Wales will pay more than £500 less tax than under stamp duty land tax with “around 90% of homebuyers in Wales will either paying the same or less tax than under stamp duty land tax”.

These changes could, therefore, encourage greater buy-to-let investors in the region.

You can find out more information on these coming changes on the Welsh Government website here.