9:29 AM, 29th July 2024, About 48 minutes ago 1
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Only 37% of homes for sale will qualify for stamp duty relief when the current threshold of £425,000 reverts to £300,000 from April 2025, a study reveals.
Rightmove says this offers a bleak outlook for first-time buyers in England and is a sharp decline from the current 58% of homes that qualify.
The South West and East of England will be hardest hit, while the North East faces the smallest impact.
London is particularly dire, with fewer than one in 10 homes projected to be exempt from stamp duty for first-time buyers in 2025, compared to a quarter now.
The property website proposes retaining the current stamp duty threshold and reviewing mortgage affordability criteria to assist more first-time buyers.
Rightmove’s property expert, Tim Bannister, said: “The housing market is made up of many connected pieces – as owning your first home becomes more difficult, some people rent for longer, which places an additional strain on the rental sector.
“Stamp duty is a barrier to movement, and keeping the existing thresholds seems like a logical step to providing some first-time buyer support.”
He adds: “Even greater stamp duty reforms in the future could have wider implications, such as helping those who are considering downsizing.”
Rightmove says that since 2010, house prices have soared 62%, from £230,592 to £373,493 so a first-time buyer purchasing an average-priced home will pay £3,675 in stamp duty from next year.
That’s up from nothing currently.
UK Finance data shows around a third of first-time buyers seek properties over £300,000, concentrated in London and more expensive regions.
The average age of first-time buyers has risen from 31 in 2010 to 33 today.
The firm’s chief executive, Johan Svanstrom, said: “We welcome the new government’s meaningful ambitions for increasing housing supply.
“It should consider consumer support measures, by retaining the current first-time buyer stamp duty relief threshold of £425,000 in England and looking at solutions to help first-time buyers with not only their deposit, but also being able to borrow enough from a lender.
“Mobility and housing are an important growth engine for the overall economy.”
Propertymark’s chief executive, Nathan Emerson, said: “Cutting stamp duty helped many buyers take their first step onto the housing market during the pandemic.
“At a time where house prices remain unrealistic and challenging for many people, it is an important part of the process that the new UK government looks to help people enter the housing market and retains the stamp duty threshold.”
He added: “But there needs to be a raft of other measures to stabilise house prices too.
“The government should also look at introducing a new scheme to replace Help to Buy, which helped many first-time buyers step onto the housing ladder, which is becoming more unaffordable without such assistance measures.”
Cider Drinker
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Sign Up10:57 AM, 29th July 2024, Less than a minute ago
The quoted 37% may be correct on a nationwide basis however, first time buyers tend to buy less expensive homes.
That said, SDLT is ridiculous. I’ve paid it many times because I’ve moved for work or to retire. If I’d settled in my first home, I would have paid it just the once (if at all). That can’t be fair.