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Back in July 2015, the Chancellor George Osborne announced a series of planning reforms designed to get Britain building again, to help reach the Government's target of 1 million new homes by 2020.

Expanding on this in the Autumn Statement, Osborne revealed a number of policies that were music to the ears of house builders, with shares rising in Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Development.

This could have widespread implications for property transactions, with the increase in the number of developments potentially affecting many homeowners.

Image copyright altogetherfool

The Chancellor's Autumn Statement announced a major reform of SDLT for residential property transactions. With effect from 4 December, the structure, rates and thresholds are being changed to deliver a more efficient and fairer system. 

The new rates, which apply where purchases are completed on or after 4 December 2014, are set out below.  Each new SDLT rate will only be payable on the portion of the property value which falls within each band (rather than tax being due at one rate on the entire property value). 

The Autumn Statement was presented to the House of Commons on the 5^th December; the outlook seemed to be positive for all except the Shadow Chancellor.