Stamp Duty cut has immediate impact!
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a cut in Stamp Duty (SDLT) at lunchtime today designed to kick start the housing market increasing the 0% threshold from £125,000 to £500,000.
We knew the Chancellor’s cut to Stamp Duty would be important but hadn’t anticipated that the response would be quite this instant.
The temporary cut is with immediate effect and therefore reduces the cost of a property purchase straight away saving an average of £4,500 for residential property buyers providing they take advantage of it before the holiday comes to an end at the end of March 2021.
Hobbs Parker Estate Agents have already seen an immediate response to this welcome news in property negotiations being undertaken today where buyers have already been able to increase their offers to reflect the saving in purchase costs and some sellers more able to accept lower offers as their onward purchase costs become more reasonable.
Stamp Duty (SDLT) is commonly a barrier to home moving for many buyers and represents one of the largest expenses in the home buying process. Increases brought in by George Osborne in 2014 were judged to have detrimentally impacted the housing market especially at the top end as well as the purchase of second homes when additional duty is paid.
The increase in the threshold will benefit many buyers but particularly those purchasing beneath £500,000. With the average house price over the past year standing at just £274,876 in the Ashford area so this is good news for local buyers.
The local property market has really bounced back to life in the last 6 weeks and we are as busy as we ever have been. You will have seen the dozens of new properties we have launched over the last few weeks in our Early Bird emails. Many of these are already under offer.
This latest support from the Government for home movers is very welcome news even though you will need to act quickly to meet the March 2021 deadline.
Making the most of your property
Would you like us to send you a quick email when we publish our next article?
These will include tips and advice on how maximum your enjoyment and return on investement from you property.
Other Recent Articles
View all
Should I put my house on the market before Christmas?
We get asked this every year in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year’s answer might surprise you.
Find out more
Gold award from our clients
Our estate agents team have been awarded Gold for the Best Agent in Ashford by allAgents.co.uk
Find out more
Should I buy a house in a Conservation Area?
There are some wonderful properties in the Conservation Areas in Kent and East Sussex but buyers need to make sure they understand the strict planning rules designed to preserve the character of these locations.
Find out more
How I nearly made a pig's ear of selling my own house
Have you ever asked for advice and then ignored it? I guess we all have. Hobbs Parker was founded by my great-great-great-grandfather in 1850. My Dad worked here for 42 years and I’ve been working […]
Find out more
Post Stamp Duty Holiday: What next for the property market?
When Rishi Sunak announced a temporary Stamp Duty holiday on July 8th 2020 to counter the effects of the Pandemic, homebuyers celebrated the chance to save on buying costs. Was he right to do it? […]
Find out more
Wye - Kent's Super Village
So what is it about the village of Wye that creates it’s extraordinary reputation? Unlike many villages in my part of Kent that are equally as pretty and have local facilities, it has a selection […]
Find out more
Millie Green - A Review of Ashford
The Kentish town of Ashford is known for many things: the International Station, the Designer Outlet and a plethora of secondary schools. These are all great assets to the town, but at Hobbs Parker we […]
Find out more
Stamp Duty Savings - are you buying a house with an Annexe?
“We sell many homes with accommodation that is separate to the principal home but very few buyers are aware of the Stamp Duty savings they may be entitled to.” Alex Davies
Find out more
Very small ski chalet for sale!
It's tempting to take snowing photos of your home when selling it. But is this a good idea?
Find out more
How many Ashfords are there in the UK?
Our website contains a database of all the villages, towns and cities in the UK. We combined this data with Google Maps to created this interactive map of all the Ashfords in the UK.
Find out more
The 50 Most Popular Villages
Our website is very busy — every day up to 6,000 people visit our website. Many are researching the ideal location for their next home and spend some time reading about the towns and villages […]
Find out more
Tips to help you establish a great Wild Garden
If you’ve been watching TV nature and gardening programmes lately, you’ll have seen a lot of interest in wild gardens. There are many advantages to wild gardens: they cover the ground in a beautiful mix […]
Find out more
Five Predictions for the Local Property Market in 2021
2020 was a tumultuous year for Hobbs Parker with our estate agency business up by 25% breaking all previous records. Despite the gloomy start to 2021, with further lockdown measures introduced, I anticipate sustained activity […]
Find out more
Tips for buyers and sellers when dealing with properties from a bygone era
The first clue upon arrival is the general look of neglect. Tired net curtains hanging at the windows, peeling paintwork, stains from a leaking gutter, a rusty gate opening on to an entrance path overgrown […]
Find out more
The 'Race for Space' and house price inflation in 2020
Are rising house prices about more than just the normal supply and demand? With so much talk of the Covid crisis, it’s almost possible to forget about the numerous economic hurdles that affect house prices. […]
Find out more
Why Rishi cannot claim all the credit!
What a strange world we live in when sales of houses are going through the roof against a background of a global pandemic. Whilst the Stamp Duty holiday is welcome, this was happening before the […]
Find out more
Stamp Duty cut has immediate impact!
The temporary cut is with immediate effect and therefore reduces the cost of a property purchase straight away saving an average of £4,500 for residential property buyers providing they take advantage of it before the holiday comes […]
Find out more
Will Netflix and Amazon affect property prices in Ashford?
There has been talk of an Ashford metamorphosis for almost as long as I can remember. The opening of the ‘Missing Link’ of the M20 motorway between Ashford and Maidstone in 1991 would surely bring […]
Find out more
Might Estate Agents open first to help rebuild the economy?
A recommendation is reported to have been made in a report written for the Government by Conservative peer Lord Gadhia and Sir Jonathan Symonds, chairman of GlaxoSmithKline. Along with coffee shops and restaurants, Estate Agents […]
Find out more
Do virtual tours and viewings work?
While lockdown and movement restrictions mean that buyers are prevented from physically viewing homes for sale, evidence suggests that many buyers are spending more time on property websites and portals to pass the time and […]
Find out more
Post-Coronavirus property market predictions
Savills research team recently offered some interesting analysis of what a UK property market recovery could look like post-Coronavirus predicting transaction volumes could be down by up to 45% for 2020 with the greatest impact […]
Find out more
Bucking the national property 'downturn'
It is true that we agreed 35 sales during October which we think are good results by anyone’s standards but I can tell you it doesn’t come easily and not without a lot of hard […]
Find out more
Why 2019 is the right time to invest in Ashford
“If you have ever wished you’d invested somewhere that has regenerated, you will know that you are already too late.” These are the words of Alex Davies, Managing Director for Hobbs Parker Estate Agents, an […]
Find out more
How do you get the best price for your house?
How do you get the best price for your house? Answer: When you put your house on the market for the first time make sure it is at the correct market value — do not be tempted to ask for […]
Find out more
Historic Property Auction Particulars -- Mersham 1878
These have been hanging on the wall in our boardroom for as long as I can remember. I recently happened to ‘bump into’ two of the current owners of the cottages when I gave a […]
Find out more
Listed Buildings Advice
The market for period property is booming and the older the house or cottage, the more likely it is to be listed. By listing a property, it celebrates a building’s special architectural and historic features […]
Find out more
Will your second home also be your pension?
Recent research suggests that the level of income people aspire to retire on each year has increased from £35,000 to £42,000 yet this would require a pension pot of more than £1 million. Evidence shows […]
Find out more
Will solar panels increase the value of my home?
As the weather gets colder and darker, and the heating and lights stay on longer, there’s one thing I can predict with even more certainty than the Queen’s Speech broadcasting on Christmas Day. The arrival […]
Find out more
Why do kitchens sell houses?
The party is in the kitchen! When we have a party at our house my wife and I spend hours making our living room look nice and then most of the evening trying to get […]
Find out more