S.D. why is there such a difference in price

Why is there such a difference between Stamp duty on new and second hand houses?

Surely its the same thing at the end of the day, a house is a house....

Plus by buying a second hand home your not adding to the development of Land and saving the environment by not pulling new raw materials out of the ground and burning fuel/electricity to produce concrete, cut timber, etc.

(You never guess I’ve just bought a second hand home and give 42k to the government!)

(Not too sure if this should be in the “letting off steam” section , but I’m only 4 days away from posting in there, so can’t at the moment)

Yes - it is a Letting Off Steam issue. See you in 4 days.

I thought you only needed 50 posts to be allowed on the LOS thread?

Plus you have to be registered for at least a month or something.

In reply to the original question -- when you buy a second hand house you pay stamp duty - when you buy a new home you pay VAT at 13.5%. The three bed starter home/ two bed apartment that you buy new for €350K includes VAT of €41,630, which works out at a net price of €308K. If you bought a second hand house for €308K you would pay €15,400 stamp duty. The only other main difference is that the VAT is considered part of the value of the house for mortgage purposes, whereas stamp duty is not.

Past30