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.