The Chancellor has confirmed that the Stamp Duty holiday that had been due to come to an end in March will be extended. The cut in its current form, on the first £500,000 of the property purchase price, will remain in place until the end of June 2021. A nil rate band of £250,000 will then be in place until the end of September 2021.
There had been a great deal of concern that house purchases which had already been agreed would not get chance to complete by the previous deadline of the end of March due to large backlogs. The Stamp Duty holiday, which came into place last summer, cut the bill entirely on properties costing between £125,000 and £500,000.
The news has been welcomed by many in the industry, who had been facing a great deal of pressure to see that all work would be completed in time for the end of March.
House buyers will undoubtedly also be giving a big sigh of relief at the news, with many having faced the prospect of a hefty, unexpected bill, or else considering pulling out of the purchase.
The extension to the Stamp Duty holiday comes just a few days after it was announced that the deadline to complete purchases under the old Help to Buy scheme would also be extended.
From our perspective, the news is very welcome and will benefit many of our clients in Lancashire.
Our team have been extremely busy since the housing market ‘re-opened’ after the first lockdown in 2020. The property market in Lancashire has proven to be very buoyant across all areas, and in some particularly popular locations, we have seen prices increase as a result of greater levels of demand. There is not a great amount of houses coming to market, especially in the over £400,000 bracket, often meaning that those houses that do come up sell very quickly.
The good news is that the extension of the Stamp Duty holiday will also allow demand to be sustained into the spring – a time of year that is usually extremely popular for the housing market.
Lea Hough has a five-strong team of residential surveyors and valuers; meaning we have more surveyors available than other firms locally. This allows us a greater level of capacity, meaning we are able to attend houses to undertake inspections for our reports in a timely manner, allowing buyers more time to take on the findings and move forward with their purchase within the Stamp Duty extension window.
Our team are able offer a full range of residential property reports, including RICS Homebuyers Surveys, Building Survey Reports, Valuation Reports and Snagging Inspections for new build properties. For more information or to discuss which survey is the most appropriate for you, please get in touch.
