Land Transaction Tax statistics: January to March 2025

Alongside the next quarterly release we’ll publish on 7 August, we’ll update our article on the intent behind higher rates transactions for Land Transaction Tax (LTT), including purchases of second homes and buy to let properties. We’ll analyse the second year of data collected on intent behind higher rates transactions, and for the first time, be able to analyse trends in this data. If you have any views on the analysis we should include in the article, please contact us at data@wra.gov.wales. 

LTT is payable on residential and non-residential property and land interests purchased in Wales. The tax rates and tax bands for LTT vary depending on the type of transaction. 

This statistical release analyses the main trends in transactions and tax due for LTT. The accompanying spreadsheet and our StatsWales tables contain more detailed data.

LTT statistics provide relatively timely information on activity in the Welsh property market. The statistics are also used by the Office for Budget Responsibility to forecast LTT revenues.

The glossary defines relevant terms used in this release. Our key quality information describes how LTT statistics satisfy the Code of Practice for Statistics. 

LTT statistics are accredited official statistics. In February 2022, the Office for Statistics Regulation independently reviewed and accredited these statistics as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Our statistical output policy explains the policies and procedures we have in place for publishing official statistics, including our approach to revisions. We also publish the list of posts which have pre-release access to our statistics, including for LTT.

When comparing LTT statistics over time, users should be aware of previous changes to LTT rates which affect the amount of tax due:

• Changes to the nil rate threshold from 27 July 2020 to 31 March 2021
• Extension of the temporary tax reduction period from 31 March 2021 to 30 June 2021
• Increase to the higher residential rates and changes for non-residential property from 27 December 2022
• Changes to main residential rates and bands from 10 October 2022
• Increase to the higher residential rates from 11 December 2024

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Residential transactions

• In January to March 2025, residential transactions were up 23% from the same quarter a year earlier. The tax due was up 42%, partly influenced by the 1% increase to tax rates in all bands for higher rates residential transactions from 11 December 2024.
• In 2024-25, the monthly numbers of transactions and amount of tax due were higher than the same month a year earlier (except for transactions in June and September).
• The percentage of transactions in the higher property bands has generally been increasing in the past 6 years, though has been more stable in the past 3 years. The trend has been similar for the contribution of these transactions to overall tax due. 

Non-residential transactions

• In January to March 2025, non-residential transactions were up 5% from the same quarter a year earlier, while the tax due was up 18%.
• In January 2025, the monthly tax due on non-residential transaction was above the monthly average (£6.9 million), but below it for February and March.
• In January to March 2025, 73% of non-residential tax due was contributed by transactions where there was a purchase involved of over £1 million, despite only representing 7% of non-residential transactions in this period.

Analysis within Wales (data for the year ending March 2025)

By local authority, higher rates transactions as a percentage of all residential transactions varied from 13% in Monmouthshire to 31% in Merthyr Tydfil. 

Compared with the previous year (the year ending March 2024), the local authorities with the largest percentage changes were:

• Isle of Anglesey (decrease of 7 percentage points)
• Gwynedd, Conwy and Neath Port Talbot (each with a decrease of 4 percentage points)
• Monmouthshire (decrease of 3 percentage points)

All other local authorities had changes of 2 percentage points or less.

In the past several years, there have generally been falls in these percentages in northern and western areas of Wales. 

The percentages for Gwynedd were fairly stable from 2018-19 to 2021-22 (around 37% to 39%). There was a marked fall the next year followed by a period of stability, before another notable decrease to 27% in 2024-25.

The percentages for Anglesey declined from 36% in 2019-20 to 29% in 2022-23. While there was a notable increase to 34% the next year, there followed a larger fall to 27% in 2024-25. 

There are multiple factors influencing the large fall for Anglesey in the latest period (compared with a year earlier). One reason is the number of transactions in Anglesey is relatively low compared with nearby areas, therefore the percentages are generally more volatile from year to year. Much of this fall can also be explained by a relatively large increase in residential transactions at the main rates while higher rates transactions actually fell in the same period. 

Early data we hold on the intent behind higher rates transactions indicates the fall in higher rates transactions for Anglesey is mainly influenced by trends in purchases of second homes, holiday homes and holiday lets, and to a lesser degree, by purchases of buy to let properties. We’ll be able to say more on the intent behind higher rates transactions when we publish the second year of this data in the next annual article on 7 August.

It’s important to note that several factors can mean a residential transaction is subject to higher rates. In a previous article, we published a breakdown for some reasons why transactions are at the higher rates. This uses a question the intent behind the higher rates transaction which was introduced to the tax return in summer 2023. The categories we’ve published data for include:

• buy to let landlord
• second home, holiday home or holiday let
• bridging (buying a new property while trying to sell an existing one)
• other

The LTT statistics only include properties sold in the past year. They don’t represent the full stock of properties in any local authority.

Further information on how to use statistics on the higher rates of LTT is presented in a statistical article published by Welsh Government: Second homes: What does the data tell us?

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Adam Al-Nuaimi, Head of Data Analysis in the WRA, commented on these statistics:

The percentages of residential transactions at the higher rate are changing for several reasons, depending on the local authority. In some areas, the drop has been considerable and is partly due to fewer second home purchases. Other factors are also involved such as changes in purchase of buy-to-let properties and increases in main rates transactions exceeding those for higher rates.

Nationally, in January to March quarterly residential revenues were higher than the same time last year, but not as high as three years earlier. There are several reasons for the latest rise. There were increases in residential transactions and average property values over that time, and tax rates for higher rates transactions increased from December 2024.

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Please note that throughout this release, any use of the term ‘non-residential’ includes transactions that are not wholly residential. That is, those transactions which have both residential and commercial elements.

Users should be aware that if a property or piece of land is sold multiple times within a quarter or a year, it would feature multiple times in the statistics for that period. In April 2024 to March 2025, we estimate that between 2.5% and 3% of transactions involved a piece of land or property which has been sold more than once in the year.

The data presented in this release has been extracted on 21 April 2025 unless otherwise stated.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and transaction type on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

[Note 1] This item only includes the additional revenue from higher rate transactions. This item does not include the main rate component of higher rate transactions.

[Note 2] Estimates for January to March 2024 were made in April 2024.

Largely due to seasonal patterns in the property market, it can be helpful to compare the current period with data from the same period a year earlier. Therefore, when comparing January to March 2025 on a like-for-like basis with January to March 2024:

• the total number transactions rose by 21% and the tax due on those transactions rose by 36%
• residential transactions increased by 23% and the tax due on those transactions increased by 42%
• of which, higher rates transactions rose by 8%
• additional revenue from higher rates residential transactions rose by 33%. This will have been partly influenced by the 1% increase to tax rates in all bands for higher rates residential transactions from 11 December 2024.
• non-residential transactions increased by 5%. Tax due from non-residential transactions rose by 18%

Figure 1: Weekly number of transactions submitted to the WRA

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Description of Figure 1: The line chart shows the weekly number of transactions submitted to the WRA had a sharp drop during holidays. Generally, the weekly numbers of transactions submitted since April 2024 were higher than the same week in the previous year. 

Source: Weekly number of transactions submitted to the WRA (Open Document Spreadsheet, 119 Kb) (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

[Note 1] This includes a small number of transactions effective in April 2025.

Figure 1 above shows the total number of transactions submitted to the WRA in each 7-day period for the latest 3 financial years. These periods begin on a Saturday and end on the following Friday. For example, the point ’29-Mar’ in 2025-26 shows the number of residential and non-residential transactions submitted to the WRA from 29 March to 4 April 2025 (inclusive). The actual dates differ slightly in the previous year. For example, the equivalent week in the previous year ran from 30 March to 5 April 2024 (inclusive).

Figure 1 shows data by submitted date and does not use data extracted on a certain date. This differs from effective date, which is the date we use for most analysis in this release and for which we extract data as at a particular date (21 April 2025 in this release).

Figure 2: Number of transactions, by type and month the transaction was effective

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Description of Figure 2: The line chart shows that from April 2024, the monthly number of residential transactions was higher than the same month a year earlier, except for June and September 2024. Non-residential transactions were at a lower level and fluctuated with rises seen in March 2024 and March 2025 from the previous months.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and transaction type on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

[p] Values for March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

[r] Values for February 2025 are revised in this publication. Higher rates residential transactions for earlier periods have been revised downwards due to higher rate refunds being claimed.

In a typical year, the number of residential transactions by effective month vary somewhat. There is general seasonality with more transactions in the summer and autumn months, although some fluctuation is due to there being five Fridays in particular months rather than four, with Friday being the most common day of the week for transactions to be effective.

From April 2024, the number of residential transactions was higher than the same month in the previous year except for June and September 2024.

For non-residential transactions, in March each year we see an increase from the previous month (February). This may generally be due to non-residential leases to be renewed at the end of the financial year. However in March 2024 and March 2025, the increases in non-residential transactions over the previous month were due to purchases and the reasons for this are unclear.

Figure 3: Tax due on transactions, by month transaction was effective [£ million]

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Description of Figure 3: The line chart shows that from April 2024, the monthly amount of tax due on residential transactions was higher than the same month in the previous year, with the largest difference in March. From April 2023 to February 2024, the monthly non-residential tax due was below the monthly long-term average (£6.9 million) every month. From March 2024, the monthly non-residential tax due has been higher than the monthly long-term average around half the time. The non-residential tax due can vary considerably from month to month, often influenced by a small number of high value transactions.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and transaction type on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

[Note 1] This item only includes the additional revenue from higher rate transactions. This item does not include the main rate component of higher rate transactions. 

[p] Values for March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

[r] Residential values for February 2025 and earlier have been revised downwards in this publication. This is to account for refunds of the higher rates of residential tax being paid out. Non-residential values for November 2024 have also been revised.

Residential transactions by value

Figures 4 and 5 below shows quarterly trends in the number of residential transactions and amount of tax due in each tax band. There are six residential tax bands. We have combined the largest two bands here to show results for properties purchased for more than £750,000.

Transactions below £400,000 have been split into two categories based on the nil rate threshold for main rates transactions that was in place at the relevant times in the past five years.

For higher rates transactions, the nil rate threshold has been static over the last five years at £180,000. However, the nil rate threshold for main rate transactions has varied over time and is currently at £225,000. For our analysis, we have grouped these transactions as ‘up to and including the nil rate threshold’ based on thresholds in effect at the time of the transaction. For the full series of the nil rate thresholds, please see Land Transaction Tax rates and bands.

Figure 4: Number of residential transactions, by residential tax band and quarter the transaction was effective

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Description of Figure 4: The line chart shows the number of residential transactions in the bands ‘up to and including the nil rate threshold’ and ‘above the nil rate threshold up to and including £400,000’ varied considerably over time, with a decrease in latest quarter from the previous quarter but remaining higher than the same quarter a year earlier. The quarterly number of transactions in the ‘£400,001 to £750,000‘ and ‘over £750,000’ bands were highest in October to December 2022 and July to September 2022 and have been lower since. For these two bands, there was a decrease in the latest quarter from the previous quarter though the figures remained higher than the same quarter a year earlier.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and residential transaction value on StatsWales

[p] The values for January to March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

Figure 5: Tax due on residential transactions, by residential tax band and quarter the transaction was effective [£ million]

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Description of Figure 5: The line chart shows that the quarterly amounts of tax due in the upper value tax bands was considerably higher in the past four years than in the year prior to that, with particular effects seen on transactions in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The amount of tax due deriving from the ‘£400,001 to £750,000’ band was highest in October to December 2022, and the amount for the ‘over £750,000’ band was highest in July to September 2022, with lower values being seen more recently.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and residential transaction value on StatsWales

[p] Values for January to March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

[r] Values for October to December 2024 and earlier have been revised downwards in this publication. This is to account for refunds of the higher rates of residential tax being paid out.

Figure 6: Percentage of residential transactions and tax due in each tax band, January to March 2025 [provisional]

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Description of Figure 6: The bar chart shows that in January to March 2025, residential transactions which were up to and including the nil rate threshold accounted for between half and three fifths of all transactions and just above a tenth of the total tax due. Meanwhile, the 1% of transactions which were over £750,000 accounted for 13% of the total tax due.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and residential transaction value on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

Figure 6 shows that in January to March 2025, 57% of residential transactions were up to and including the nil rate threshold (defined below Figure 4). Percentages for previous quarters varied between 45% and 71%. In January to March 2025, the transactions for this band accounted for 12% of residential tax due. This is lower than the 22% seen in April to June 2018 (not shown in Figure 6), with generally a decreasing trend seen in the intervening six years, though more stable in the past 2 years.

In January to March 2025, the 1% of residential transactions with a value over £750,000 contributed 13% of residential tax due. For previous quarters, the percentage of transactions in this category was similarly small. For residential tax due, the percentages generally rose for 3 years from the 4% seen in April to June 2018 (not shown in Figure 6), though the percentages have been more stable in the past 3 years. 

The percentage of transactions with a value £400,001 to £750,000 generally rose in most quarters, from 3% in April to June 2018 to 9% in January to March 2025, though has been more stable in the past 3 years. Similarly the percentage of residential tax due contributed by these transactions generally rose from 24% in April to June 2018 to 37% in January to March 2025, also being more stable in the past 2 years.

Non-residential transactions by value

For each tax band, Figures 7 and 8 show the quarterly trends in the number of non-residential transactions and tax due. There are 4 tax bands for the non-rental value. We have combined the smallest 2 bands here to show results for properties with a non-rental value less than £250,000.

Figure 7: Number of non-residential transactions, by value and quarter the transaction was effective [Note 1]

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Description of Figure 7: The line chart shows that the number of non-residential transactions in the four bands presented fell substantially in April to June 2020. The numbers of transactions recovered in the following quarters while smaller fluctuations have been seen in the past four years. In January to March 2025, all bands saw a decrease from the previous quarter.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and non-residential transaction value on StatsWales

[Note 1] A small number of newly granted leases have both a premium paid and a rental value. Therefore these transactions are included twice in Figure 7, under both the non-rental value and the rental value.

[p] The values for January to March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

Figure 8: Tax due on non-residential transactions, by value and quarter the transaction was effective [£ million]

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Description of Figure 8: The line chart shows that the quarterly tax due from non-rental value of properties over £1 million has fluctuated greatly over time with the highest values seen in the 6 quarters April 2021 to September 2022, and April to June 2024. For all quarters, the tax due from this category was considerably higher than the other two non-rental bands presented and the rental value. The non-residential tax due can vary considerably from quarter to quarter, often influenced by a small number of high value transactions.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and non-residential transaction value on StatsWales

[p] The values for January to March 2025 are provisional and will be revised in a future publication.

Figure 9: Percentage of tax due on non-residential transactions in each value band, January to March 2025 [provisional]

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Description of Figure 9: The bar chart shows that in January to March 2025, 46% of non-residential transactions had a non-rental value of up to and including £250,000, with those transactions contributing 0.3% of non-residential tax due. The 7% of non-residential transactions with a non-rental value of more than £1 million contributed just under three quarters of tax due. Just over a quarter of non-residential transactions had a rental value associated with the transaction, contributing 7% of non-residential tax.

Source: LTT statistics by time period and non-residential transaction value on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above)

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This release presents geographic breakdowns for residential LTT. We present data for April 2024 to March 2025 (extracted as at April 2025) and make comparisons with data for April 2023 to March 2024 (extracted at April 2024). More detailed data for local authorities, National Parks, Senedd and Westminster Parliamentary constituencies is available on StatsWales.

We have not provided breakdowns by month or quarter, as there would be too few transactions in most local authorities to provide reliable statistics.

The local authority in which the transaction occurs is a mandatory question on the tax return, whereas the postcode where the transaction occurs is an optional question. We have combined these two pieces of information to derive our local authority statistics. Further information on this process and the data quality is available in our key quality information for LTT statistics.

Where supplied, the postcode on the tax return is used to derive the Senedd and Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, the National Park and built-up area.

Figure 10: Higher rates transactions as a percentage of all residential transactions, by local authority and National Park, April 2024 to March 2025 and April 2023 to March 2024

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Description of Figure 10: The chart shows that higher rates transactions were relatively higher in Merthyr Tydfil, Gwynedd and Isle of Anglesey. For the latest year compared with a year earlier, most authorities have decreases in their percentage of residential transactions which were at the higher rates, with several exceptions. Some of the areas presented are small and have small numbers of transactions, therefore greater volatility can be expected over time for these areas.

Source: Residential LTT statistics by measure and local authority on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above).

Residential LTT statistics by measure and National Park on StatsWales (includes data back to April 2018, not presented above).

Higher rates transactions were relatively higher in authorities located in the northern and western parts of Wales and in some authorities in the south Wales valleys. The highest percentages were seen in Merthyr Tydfil (31%), Gwynedd and Isle of Anglesey (each 27%). Both main reasons for higher rates transactions, namely buy-to-let purchases and second or holiday home/let purchase impact which local authorities reside at the top of the distribution.

The lowest percentage was seen in Monmouthshire (13%).

In terms of percentage points, the local authorities with the largest changes were:

• Isle of Anglesey (decrease of 7 percentage points)
• Gwynedd, Conwy and Neath Port Talbot (each with a decrease of 4 percentage points)
• Monmouthshire (decrease of 3 percentage points)

All other local authorities had changes of 2 percentage points or less.

The corresponding changes with the previous year for the three National Parks were:

• Pembrokeshire Coast: 48% to 39%, a decrease of 9 percentage points
• Eryri: 35% to 28%, a decrease of 7 percentage points
• Bannau Brycheiniog: 19% to 20%, with no overall increase in percentage points

In the past several years, there have generally been falls in these percentages in northern and western areas of Wales. 

The percentages for Gwynedd were fairly stable from 2018-19 to 2021-22 (around 37% to 39%). There was a marked fall the next year followed by a period of stability, before another notable decrease to 27% in 2024-25.

The percentages for Anglesey declined from 36% in 2019-20 to 29% in 2022-23. While there was a notable increase to 34% the next year, there followed a larger fall to 27% in 2024-25. 

There are multiple factors influencing the large fall for Anglesey in the latest period (compared with a year earlier). One reason is the number of transactions in Anglesey is relatively low compared with nearby areas, therefore the percentages are generally more volatile from year to year. Much of this fall can also be explained by a relatively large increase in residential transactions at the main rates while higher rates transactions actually fell in the same period. 

Early data we hold on the intent behind higher rates transactions indicates the fall in higher rates transactions for Anglesey is mainly influenced by trends in purchases of second homes, holiday homes and holiday lets, and to a lesser degree, by purchases of buy to let properties. We’ll be able to say more on the intent behind higher rates transactions when we publish the second year of this data in the next annual article on 7 August.

Users should be aware that:

• some of the areas presented are small and have small numbers of transactions, therefore greater volatility can be expected over time for these areas
• there are some overlaps in the time periods used when, for example, considering data for the year to June 2024 and year to September 2024. Therefore to derive cumulative changes over time, it is better to calculate percentage changes for the latest year against a year earlier.

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Various other data are not analysed in this release but we publish this data in the spreadsheet accompanying this release and on StatsWales.

Tax due on additional transactions which were untypically large or with restricted detail

Certain transactions have been excluded from the statistics reported in this release. This includes:

• untypically large transactions, which relates to the 2019-20 purchase by Transport for Wales of the Core Valley Line rail asset from Network Rail. £28.2 million of tax was due and paid on this transaction.
• a small number of low-value transactions where we are unable to provide any information other than the total tax figure in the year. This is because there is a risk of revealing details of the individual transactions. 

Statistics on annual tax due for these transactions is published on StatsWales:

LTT statistics on total tax due including transactions with restricted detail on StatsWales

Reliefs

Taxpayers can claim reliefs on both residential and non-residential transactions. Reliefs reduce the amount of tax due when certain conditions are met. More than one relief can be applied to a single transaction. 

Reliefs may reduce the tax due:

• to zero, known as a full relief
• or by a certain percentage or amount, known as a partial relief

Statistics on reliefs are published in the spreadsheet accompanying this release and on StatsWales:

LTT statistics on reliefs impacting on tax by measure and transaction type on StatsWales

On 7 February 2025, legislation relating to multiple dwellings relief was changed so that cases where dwellings that are subsidiary (worth less than a third of the total value of the transaction) must now be treated as part of the primary dwelling in any main rates residential transaction.  This means it is now very rare that multiple dwellings relief will apply in a main rates residential transaction, which we estimate will reduce the value of the relief (or increase total LTT revenues) by between £2.0 and £2.5m per year. 

Refunds of the higher rates of residential tax

When a taxpayer claims a refund for higher rates residential LTT, the original transaction is amended to a main rate residential LTT transaction. Refund statistics on a variety of bases are published in the spreadsheet accompanying this release and on StatsWales:

• LTT statistics on higher rate refunds by original transaction date on StatsWales
• LTT statistics on higher rate refunds by original transaction date and refund approved date on StatsWales
• LTT statistics on tax paid and higher rate refunds (cash basis) on StatsWales

Tax paid

We publish statistics on the amount of tax paid in the spreadsheet accompanying this release and on StatsWales.

LTT statistics on tax paid and higher rate refunds (cash basis) on StatsWales

Analysis of revisions to our published estimates

Our first estimates of transactions and tax due for a particular month are published as provisional estimates. In subsequent releases, we regularly revise those estimates and those for earlier months. The percentage changes we see between first and second estimates for a particular month are now relatively small. These percentages are shown in the spreadsheet accompanying this release.

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