Chancellor George Osborne’s revelation that he had found an extra £27bn of wriggle room for his Autumn Statement on Wednesday was good news for working families fearing a cut to Tax Credits and of modest benefit to state pensioners who will see a weekly rise of £3.35.

However, there was a sting in the tail for buy-to-let investors seeking to purchase property in England and Wales.

From 1 April 2016, higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will be charged on purchases of “additional” residential properties (above £40,000), such as buy-to-let properties and second homes.

The higher rates will be 3 percentage points above the current SDLT rates, meaning a property purchase of £300,000 would face a top levy of 8 instead of 5%.

The rules will not apply in Scotland, however, further emphasising the disparity between the two markets.

The current rates came into force last April.

Update (16/12/2015):  Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney has announced that property investors north of the border will also be subject to the extra 3%.

Delivering his budget, Mr Swinney said the supplement would be added to the purchase price of the property, on top of the existing Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).

BBC News

Since April, when the new rules came into effect, the Association of British Insurers say savers have withdrawn £4.7 billion from their pension pots.

£2.5 billion was paid out in 166,700 cash lump sum payments – an average payment of £15,000, while another £2.2 billion was paid out in income drawdown to 606,000 people (£3,600 on average).

Meanwhile, canny investors have continued to commit money to a range of pension savings schemes. Of a total of £5 billion invested,  £2.9 billion was put into income drawdown products with an average fund size of £65,000. Another £2.2 billion was invested into annuities, with an average size of £53,300.

ABI Chairman Paul Evans said the figures showed people were looking for the best deal for their retirement.

‘Around half are now switching away from the company they saved with to secure the best deal for their retirement income,’ he said.

‘Overall, customers appear to be behaving rationally, and I think we can all be proud of the speed with which we responded to help the government’s reforms succeed.’

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