Every couple of months, the nice woman at the Revenue Commissioners gets pestered by here for the latest stamp duty figures on property transactions in the State. In the absence of a House Price Database (which should be with us by June 2012) stamp duty gives an indication of activity in the market. Yes, every month the Department of Finance Exchequer Statement shows income under the heading “Stamp Duty” but this includes duty on all sorts of transactions, not just real estate property transaction tax (and in 2011 it includes the pension levy used to fund the Jobs Initiative). During the week the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan produced a written answer in the Dail which set out the property-related stamp duty receipts in 2010. The figures will include stamp duty on commercial and residential property and remember that for 11 months of 2010, the old stamp duty rates on residential property sales applied.
So, what do the figures tell us?
There has been a collapse in property transactions. The peak income from stamp duty on property was 2006 when a total of €2.967bn was collected. So it would appear that transactional activity dropped some 93%. Of course some transactions were exempt from stamp duty but the indicated collapse is in line with the collapse in the mortgage market, indicating that cash didn’t suddenly replaced financed purchases. The 2009 receipts totalled €346m from 11,766 residential transactions and 21,895 commercial transactions so even compared to what was not a great year, 2010 receipts were down 43%.
Practically nothing was sold in Longford and Leitrim which recorded the lowest stamp duty receipts of €0.6m apiece. If the receipts were all for residential property and the average transaction price was €200,000 then that would mean about 100 homes were sold in 2010 in each county..
43% of the receipts were for Dublin. This indicates the property market in Dublin is, on a proportionate basis, far more fluid than the rest of the country. The average value of residential property in Dublin is 30% more than the national average. And according to the 2011 Preliminary Census results, the Dublin county housing stock stands at 529,312 out of 2,004,175 homes in the State.
There is an analysis of the 2003-2009 stamp duty receipts here, following the release of information by the Revenue Commissioners in October 2010. Gordon Deegan at the Irish Examiner reported the story today and has comments from Sherry FitzGerald, the country’s largest estate agents.
“However, Ms Finnegan [of Sherry Fitzgerald] … adding that Government receipts from stamp duty are up this year on 2010.”
Read more: http://irishexaminer.com/business/dublin-nets-half-of-property-sales-177382.html#ixzz1ghQ02VBw
Can someone give a little context to this? A bounce back or desperation to find a silver lining?
@Adrian, stamp duty receipts are indeed up in 2011 on 2010 – €1,296m versus €855m to the 11 months to end Nov 2011 and 2010. But the 2011 receipts include about €500m from the pension levy so the figs are flat in total. There is no property/non-property breakdown available on stamp duty. So I think take her comments with a pinch of salt though on the other hand as Ireland’s largest estate agent she probably has a good handle of what is happening with residential and commercial property generally.
@ Adrian, Stamp Duty includes a variety of levies, mainly the Health Insurance Levy and the Pension Levy. I am not sure of the amount raised by the Health Insurance Levy but the Pension levy is expected to yield between €450M & €480M in 2011.
There is a link below to the Chapter on Stamp Duties in the Revenue Commissioners Annual Statistical Report for y/e 31/12/2009. For some reason that chapter is not up yet for the y/e 31/12/10
[…] the Upper Shannon Renewal Scheme. I mentioned before that IrelandAfterNama had covered it; now NamaWineLake, one of the best sites covering the wreckage of the Irish property market, has pointed to the […]
@namawinelake
Stamp duty was reduced in last years budget. So these figures would seem to indicate an increase in activity in residential transactions from the previous year. Or am I missing something?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1207/budgethouses-business.html
@southofdub, the stamp duty figures are for 2010. The stamp duty rates were reduced in December 2010. So for 11 months of the year, the old rates applied, and December is traditionally a quiet month for commercial, and also residential transactions. So no, it is more than likely that 2010 represents a decline in volumes as well as a 40% fall in values.
Taking population size into account Leitrim coming out more of less in line with other rural areas – which isn’t bad considering the whole Upper Shannon Renewal. Figures are more sobering in areas with large urban populations – Cork, Limerick, Waterford – where you would imagine a higher perdentage of transactions would continue despite slow down.