Land Tax Holiday and House Prices : Evidence from the UK

This paper provides evidence on the impact of Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday on house prices in the UK using synthetic control methodology. I postulate that the tax holiday caused an increase in the UK house prices by annual rates of 2.3% and 3.1% in 2020 Q4 and 2021 Q1. On a regional level, all the regions exhibited an increase in the house prices except for Greater London. My findings suggest that the pandemic caused city-dwellers to move out of big cities to the countryside and coastal cities, driving their house prices to increase