Zoopla gives evidence to MPs at House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on property taxation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, November 13th 2026, London: Zoopla, one of the leading property websites, was invited to provide expert evidence to MPs on the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee this week on the topic of property taxation. A key recommendation was the abolition of stamp duty to support more home moves and boost economic growth.
Richard Donnell, Executive Director Zoopla, appeared alongside Kate Willis, from the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), Professor Tim Leunig from Public First Consulting, and Kirstie Alsopp, TV presenter and property expert.
Zoopla provided MPs with its deep data and insights on how property taxation is impacting buying and selling decisions for homeowners, first time buyers and landlords and how future tax changes might impact consumers and the property industry. During the evidence session, the panel provided MPs with five clear recommendations:
1. Abolish SDLT
Stamp duty has a big impact on home moving decisions and adds to the cost of buying, hitting labour mobility and economic growth. The impact is most pronounced in southern England where home values are higher. 70% of the tax is paid on sales over £500,000. The 5% band starting at £250,000 is increasingly hitting buyers of average priced homes in places like Aldershot and Southend where stamp duty costs are £7,500-£10,000.
Many people are calling for stamp duty to be abolished. The challenge is that stamp duty is a tax that raises £11bn a year making it a very tough decision to abolish outright. In reality, the abolition of stamp duty will need to be run alongside wider reforms to council tax to make the system fairer and get the benefit of lower moving costs for more home buyers.
2. Reform council tax
Council tax generates close to £50bn a year and has been the subject of ongoing calls for reform. Zoopla is supportive of recommendations from the Onward think tank which proposes abolishing stamp duty and replacing it with a reformed council tax based on the value of homes, which would lower costs for many households.
3. No Capital Gains Tax on main residences
20% of housing sales already pay £2bn of CGT from sales of second properties. Charging it on the main residence would not be viable and would have a big impact on the market and hit older home movers the hardest.
4. Mansion tax - low tax revenues and very expensive to administer
Media speculation of taxing high value homes, often referred to as a mansion tax is not viable. Less than 1% of homes are valued over £2m and the tax raised would be small and heavily contested as expensive homes are hard to value, and the tax base would be small.
5. Avoid adding to costs for private landlords which would hit supply
Taxation of landlords has stalled new investment over the last decade, with many leaving the market. Static supply in private rented homes since 2016, and the same in social housing, means any measures that further dis-incentivise landlords will only reduce supply further and would hit lower and middle income renters hardest.
Zoopla is committed to engaging with policymakers to represent its agent and housebuilder partners, ensuring that data-driven perspectives inform decisions that shape the future of housing in the UK.
To watch the full session, visit https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/bf31986a-4109-4845-933e-71f0f035c014
Commenting on Zoopla’s appearance at the Committee, Richard Donnell, Executive Director of Research at Zoopla said: “Our consumer data shows there is a strong appetite to move home but the affordability of housing, including the cost of buying, is a key barrier for many households, especially in southern England. Reducing the cost of stamp duty to support more home moves and increased labour mobility would be very welcome in the short term but costly at the same time.
“Property is not the place to look for quick wins on taxation, but there is a strong case for longer term reforms that see the removal of stamp duty and the introduction of a proportional property tax that replaces council tax and eases the barriers to home moves.
“While it's easy to model reforms to property tax reform on paper selling it to homeowners and executing any change will be a far greater challenge and needs to be approached with care”