【Bloomberg】U.K. House Prices Drop in Rush to Beat Deadline for Tax Break

U.K. home prices fell in January as sellers tried to speed up transactions with discounts before a temporary reduction in a hefty tax on home-buying ends -- although many deals will miss the deadline anyway, according to Rightmove.

The average asking price fell 0.9% on the month, seemingly to tempt movers into last-minute sales, the U.K.’s biggest property website said. However, of 613,000 agreements already in the pipeline, it expects about 100,000 to close after the March 31 cut-off, meaning they’ll face tax bills as much as 15,000 pounds ($20,000) bigger than they would have.

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