South East named ISA capital of the UK
EasyMoney has dubbed the South East of England the UK’s ISA investment capital after analysing the market.
As ISA season kicks off ahead of the April tax year deadline, stocks and shares ISAs and Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) are seeing the highest average sum subscribed per an account, according to the peer-to-peer property lending platform’s analysis of HMRC data.
The ISA deadline for the 2022/23 tax year is 5 April 2023, leaving investors just a few short months to maximise their investment before their tax-free ISA allowance is gone.
For EasyMoney, the months of February and March mark the start of ISA season, as investors start to make top ups before the big deposit month of April.
Read more: New Ethex IFISA to support space exploration
The latest figures show that there are some 27.2 million ISA holders across the UK, with 11.8 million new subscribers to stocks and shares and IFISAs coming over the 2019/20 tax year.
The South East is home to 3.8 million total ISA holders, accounting for 14 per cent of the national total.
London ranks second, with the region home to 12 per cent of all UK ISA investors, with the North West (11 per cent), East of England (10 per cent) and South West (10 per cent) also accounting for a double-digit chunk of ISA market activity within the UK.
Read more: Savers and investors could miss out on thousands without P2P
Stocks and shares ISAs have seen the highest average subscription per account at £9,432, with IFISAs seeing an average subscription of £5,750.
“April’s ISA deadline is fast approaching and as is often the case, this impending cut off point tends to stir a degree of urgency amongst investors who are keen to maximise the tax-free allowance on offer to them,” said EasyMoney chief executive Jason Ferrando.
“This uplift in activity tends to start from February building to a crescendo of deposits come April and so we expect it to be a very busy few months ahead.
“While April’s deadline may still seem some way away, it will come around soon enough, and now is the time to arrange your finances accordingly if you plan to boost your ISA savings pot.”
Read more: Sapia Partners loses IFISA permissions