The generosity of the Scottish house buying public remains extraordinary. The latest data on the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) shows homeowners contributed a total of £639.8m in property taxes in the 12 months to July 2024.
This is £17.7m higher than the previous 12 months in 2022/23 when £622.1m was raised.
The figure for July was £75.9m which is £18.7m higher than June and the largest monthly figure recorded since data began being collected in April 2015.
Of the £639.8m taxes raised, £197.3m is from the additional dwelling supplement (ADS) which is charged on second homes and properties purchased by landlords and property investors to rent.
This is 30.8 per cent of the total raised and is £33.8m higher than the same period in 2022/23.
The ADS figure for July alone was £23.9m, which is the highest ever monthly figure. Almost all the residential taxes raised arose from properties sold for more than £325,001.
The 16,960 transactions above this threshold raised £367.6m which is 83.1 per cent of the total £442.
5m raised in LBTT (this is the figure for residential sales with the ADS figures removed). This means that the average tax levied per transaction was £21,674. The Scottish homebuyer is now generously contributing almost two-thirds of a billion pounds in property taxes annually.
This is an unbelievable amount of money. The 10 per cent property tax begins at £325,001 in Scotland compared to £925,001 in England, resulting in Scots being charged subs.