Last year investors bought far fewer homes than in previous years and first-time buyers actually bought more homes. The measures to deter home investors and investors on the housing market seem to work with this, according to the Land Registry.
Since 2021 a higher transfer tax applies to investors. As a result, home buyers who are not going to live in their newly purchased house must pay 8 percent tax on the purchase price. At the same time, people up to the age of 35 who buy their first house pay 0 percent tax if the house is not more expensive than 400,000 euros. Otherwise, a transfer tax of 2 percent applies.
Easier for first-time buyers
The figures from the Land Registry show the effect. The number of homes that investors bought doubled between 2010 and 2020 to 88,000 in that last year. At the end of 2020, before the measures came into effect, there was still a peak in that figure. But last year, investors bought no more than 51,000 homes.
The figure below clearly shows the significant decline in investors in 2021:
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