£100m property bonanza as mansion tax threat is lifted

RELIEVED buyers snapped up more than £100million worth of property yesterday as the threat of a mansion tax was lifted.

Estate agents said the market will now ‘surge forward again’ as the uncertainty which had triggered a dramatic slowdown came to an end.

Following the Tory victory, a flurry of high-end home sales were pushed through in London and counties including Surrey, Berkshire, Devon and Hampshire as buyers tried to seal the deal before sellers could hike their prices.

Labour’s proposed mansion tax on homes worth more than £2million had threatened to bring the top of the market ‘to its knees’. The threat of rent controls if Labour won had also deterred some buy-to-let investors.

But yesterday, homeowners could ‘ breathe a sigh of relief’. Analysts predicted a busy summer as more sellers put their homes on the market and a rush of interest from wealthy investors who had been holding off buying multi-million-pound houses – further boosting the economy.

One estate agent said £26million worth of property changed hands yesterday morning even before the final results had trickled in.

Becky Fatemi, of estate agents Rokstone, said: ‘ The London property market has gone crazy. We have just exchanged this morning on a £ 20million penthouse in Belgravia, a £3.5million apartment in Mayfair and another two-bedroom apartment.’

Gary Hersham, of Beauchamp Estates, said that property had played an influential role in the election, adding: ‘Voters want economic stability, the country’s books balanced and their homes safe from a mansion tax.’