The government have been trying to get the property market back up and running for months. They have been trying lots of different things to try and give home buyers that bit of confidence that they need. The recent government announcement will definitely do that.
As you may have heard, the government have announced that a stamp duty holiday will run until 31st March 2021. This will hopefully help get the economy back on its feet.
Stamp duty tax is a common barrier that stops peoples home buying process and sometimes it can put them off purchases. The government have introduced this move in hope that it will give buyers more confidence as the housing market is a key part of the UK’s economy and it needs to resume as fast as it can.
The government says the temporary move will mean nine out of 10 people buying a home during the exemption period won’t need to pay any stamp duty at all.
The changes have been taken into effect immediately, here how it might affect you:
Most First Time Buyers don’t pay stamp duty anyway as they are already exempt up to £300,000. This holiday applies to properties up to £500,000 though, so if you are a First Time Buyer buying at that maximum figure then you would save £10,000 in stamp duty.
Home movers moving up or down the property ladder are likely to be the biggest winners here. If you are moving and your purchase completes before March 31st 2020 then you will not pay Stamp Duty at all as long as the purchase price is <£500,000. The government predicts that the average stamp duty bill will fall by £4,500, but for properties priced at £500,000 the saving will be £15,000.
The stamp duty surcharge still applies (this was brought in to curb the number of investors buying homes that traditionally would have been bought up by First Time Buyers), but you will still be better off than before.
Under the old system, if you bought an investment property for £250,000, you’d have paid 3% on the first £125,000 and 5% on the second £125,000, resulting in a stamp duty bill of £10,000. During the holiday you will only pay 3% stamp duty on the whole purchase price, meaning a bill of £7,500.
Malcolm was on BBC Radio Humberside on 09/07/2020 to talk about the stamp duty statement and what he thinks of it, here is what he had to say: