WHILE many were enjoying their Christmas festivities recently, the UK Treasury showed a distinct lack of holiday spirit towards investors in the British residential property market. A Consultation Document issued with little fanfare on Dec 28 - in the middle of the traditional holiday period - provided more detail on raises to property taxes announced in November. It might have left some investors choking on their post-Christmas turkey sandwiches.

In a nutshell, the proposed tax is similar to the Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) which already exists in Singapore on second home purchases. It increases existing rates of stamp duty by 3 per cent for investors buying second homes or investment properties in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (but not Scotland which has devolved legal powers in this area).

That is all pretty straight forward but it has potential to cost overseas property investors thousands of pounds more in payments in tax to the UK government. For example, a second property costing £650,000 (S$1.3 million) which completes on March 31, 2016 would attract stamp duty of £22,500. If it is completed on April 1, 2016 the stamp duty would be £42,000. The objective is laudable - to address the growing housing affordability gap in the UK. But as ever, the devil is in the detail.