Ireland budget 2020: Stamp duty on commercial property to rise by 1.5%

The Irish government has announced a rise in stamp duty on commercial property, alongside measures to increase the supply of affordable housing. Finance minister Paschal Donohoe announced a raft of tax and spending measures, with housing one of the central themes of next year’s budget, in the Irish parliament today. Stamp duty on commercial property will rise by 1.5% to 7.5% from midnight tonight. The inheritance tax threshold for housing will increase from €320,000 to €335,000. Outlining his budget for 2020, Donohoe said there would be additional investment in housing over the next year. This, he said, would enable the “government to continue to respond to the significant increase in demand for housing supports while also prioritising investment in the social housing programme”. The Irish government will invest €2.5bn in its social housing programme in 2020. It is also targeting building another 12,000 social housing units for 2021. Donohoe has promised an extra €80m for Housing Assistance Payments. The Help-to-Buy Scheme in its current form has been extended for a further period of two years to the end of 2021. Marie Hunt, executive director at CBRE Ireland, welcomed the extension of the Help-to-Buy scheme and broadly supported the allocation of increased funding towards both social and affordable housing. However, she criticised the hike in stamp duty on non-residential property transactions. “Unexpectedly increasing transaction costs is clearly unwelcome considering the reputational damage such changes make for institutional investors who already bore a trebling of this rate only two years ago. This increase in stamp duty will certainly have a bearing on investors decision-making, not least the price they will bid and pay for commercial real estate assets from this point forward.”   To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette