In a Budget of few surprises , the already buoyant Devon property market was given a further boost by the announcement of an extension to the Stamp Duty Holiday and a government backed 95% mortgage scheme to help people who might otherwise struggle to get on the property ladder.
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak has confirmed the extension, due to have ended on March 31st, to June 30th.From this date the current nil rate band will transition from a £500,000 threshold to £250,000 until the end of September before a return to the usual £125,000 rate band in October.
The extension brings a collective sigh of relief to thousands of homebuyers – with an extra three months to complete deals and make the most of up to £15,000 of tax saving.
The announcement follows months of concern from buyers and sellers that the initial March deadline would result in thousands of deals falling through, with recent Rightmove data showings one in five sales agreed in the same month the stamp duty holiday was first announced in July last year still haven’t completed.
Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister said: “This three-month extension will come as a huge relief for those people who have been going through the sales process since last year and were always expecting to make use of the stamp duty savings.”
They reported
On the announcement to extend the stamp duty holiday until end of June:
- The average stamp duty saving in England is £5,802
- People enquiring about properties under £500,000 on Rightmove makes up 84% of all buyer enquiries in England
- People enquiring about properties under £250,000 on Rightmove makes up 50% of all buyer enquiries in England
- Rightmove estimates an additional 300,000 property transactions in England could get through by end of June, based on previous HMRC transaction data
- If an additional 300,000 transactions made it through, buyers could save £1.75 billion in total
- Based on the current sales that have been agreed in England, 80% of them would pay no stamp duty due to the holiday
The extension applies to investors as well as home movers and – even with just four months to go – will undoubtedly trigger an influx of new sales eager meet the new deadline.
The chancellor also announced an already trailed mortgage guarantee scheme, allowing lenders to offer 95% mortgages, backed with a government guarantee. Sunak said that a number of lenders would offer the scheme from next month, to help those with a deposit of 5%. Adding that this would allow people “who cannot afford a big deposit” to buy their own home, “turning Generation Rent into Generation Buy”.
We are expecting an influx of properties to the market due to the road map of restrictions easing – but with this added relief to the pocket of home movers things are expected to happen fast.
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